Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 29, 2023 11:45:23 GMT -6
But even house cats could be cuddly, no matter their pride or general lack of respect for the immediate great outdoors of their homes. There was no way in heavens she was ever going to get the wiurn to the point of becoming 'cuddly', but perhaps she could get him at least used to the fact that humanoids can be interesting. She wasn't.. exactly sure how, considering she still knew so little about him, but there were many different ways to find out.
The mammalian turned and walked away.
The wiurn's eye next opened to the sound of wooden clatter, soft and gradual. When the yellow eye moved over to the side, the head shifted along with it, until he could see… something or another being set up. The mammalian was going to and from some pile, to a different pile off to the side, carrying bits of wood and plank along the way.
(15) Embernacht: 3 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 29, 2023 11:45:42 GMT -6
The eye remained open, more out of the unusual nature of the scene than genuine interest, but the wiurn did shift and roll himself over to the other side, to make for a more comfortable view. It prompted a quick glance over the mammalian's shoulder, as just a cursory security check of "are you about to attack or are you just adjusting your nap position" persuasion. The latter confirmed, the sphinx breathed easy and continued her work.
A few minutes later, the wooden contraption was done. And 'contraption' was a very apt term for it, for it was one of the slightly battered and bruised forms of a wooden sarane dummy. She'd gone through a number of these over the years of training, and although she still had plenty left, none had been brought along that day. After all, the initial goal had never been to actually train Embernacht a specific thing.
(16) Embernacht: 3 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
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Post by Darky on Nov 29, 2023 11:46:18 GMT -6
What she did have were a bunch of pieces from the old ones, thrown away and discarded in the pile both wooden planks and poles as much as it was branches, sticks and quite a few leaves, from when the yard had been "tidied up" last. Winter and sleigh pending, she didn't quite have the means to collect and remove them from the yard to some lumber yard or recycling center just yet.
Which in this case was small favours, for the errant bits and pieces of different models could none the less still combine into a fairly decent looking sarane dummy, if not still a little rough around the edges.
Embernacht observed this wooden monstrosity, single eye scanning. Then the head shifted and he brought the second eye to bear as well. This thing.. looked like a dragon, but something was terribly wrong with it. He couldn't quite tell what, but something about the shape was both bothersome as it was poking at some instincts perhaps much deeper in.
(17) Embernacht: 3 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 29, 2023 11:46:35 GMT -6
The sphinx observed somewhat nervously, stepping a good distance away. Usually getting them interested in the dummy was easy enough - a bit of a breeze to lift the wings and most things wouldn't tell wood from actual living thing. Embernacht wasn't biting that fast, instead deciding to stare it down a good several minutes, as if deliberating what it was, what it meant and perhaps what it stood for.
Eventually, the wiurn began to shift, heavy and lazy as he unrolled the arms underneath him and slowly rose up onto his feet. A couple of shuffles closer, back arched as the long neck angled down, and the golden eyes surveyed the wooden dummy closer. All the while the nostrils flaring as if trying to understand better that way.
And then he stopped, staring ahead blankly a moment, before turning the head away. In the same motion as the rest of the body, the tail arced in a whip of motion, smashing the dummy behind his back.
(18) Embernacht: 3 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 29, 2023 11:46:57 GMT -6
The sphinx winced, as wooden pieces went flying every which way, but mostly into the dent of dirt in the ground where the bulbous tail had smashed it. It seems the wiurn hasn't been particular to that sort of dummy, but what surprised her was that it didn't seem to be a motion of anger. Embernacht barely gave the dummy the time of day when the tail came down, and at the end of it all he merely moved back to his previous position to curl up and lay down once more, wings tucked to the sides, eyes closed.
Right, well. She learned something from that. She wasn't entirely sure what just yet, but that was certainly something new when it came to all the possible ways the dummy encounter could have gone.
On the up side at least it made the wiurn move, so if nothing else she could relay back to their acquaintance that getting the wiurn to react could involve some form of faux figures.
(19) Embernacht: 3 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 29, 2023 11:47:14 GMT -6
It also meant a small patch of her yard was once more filled with the pieces of a broken sarane dummy. That kind of sight was starting to be a bit too familiar in their little corner plot, to the point that she's almost afraid what it might imply in terms of creatures learning from those things. She'd hardly want a vast majority of her fighting stock to decide sarane were the type of things that needed to go on sight.
Shuffling back over, the sphinx kept careful watch on the wiurn, but when he didn't even peek an eye, she felt more confident in starting the clean-up process. At least this time she had had the sense to bring some leather gloves along, and thus escape the curse of splintered hands for once. The dummy had taken several minutes to assemble, lasted only a few minutes, and was cleaned up in about as much time as well.
(20) Embernacht: 4 (0/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 29, 2023 11:47:36 GMT -6
"Not a fan of simulacrums, I guess," she muttered to herself, as the last piece of the wood was thrown back onto the pile. Dusting her hands off, she hopped down from the pile and turned around only to find the wiurn's head facing her broadside, one yellow eye open as if it has been observing her as soon as she had turned her back. The sphinx froze momentarily, but even in her most high-strung mind the perception of the beast was able to tell he wasn't making any aggressive, tense or otherwise defensive motions to indicate something was wrong.
Quite the opposite, no sooner did he notice her gaze returned, that the eye shifted away and there was a snort as he adjusted the lazing position. For all the world she looked to be not worthy of his time or attention, and yet she can't help but wonder how long he had watched her clear up the pieces.
(21) Embernacht: 4 (1/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 29, 2023 11:47:53 GMT -6
There was a kind of aloof of indifference, and then there was the aloof of uncaring. If she didn't know any better, it almost seemed like he was definitely attempting to portray the latter. It was a fine show as well, for anyone who didn't quite have the perceptive capabilities of a humanoid - enough to fool other wiurn, perhaps even that of most other species, but those with a spark of intelligence weren't so easily fooled.
A "secret softy" wasn't even close to her expectations, and yet her head tilted with a sudden smirk as she folded her arms. Whether that was merely a one-off impression or something that could develop into fruition would have to be something for the acquaintance to sort through. For her part, though, she'd seen enough defensive threats covering the posture of vulnerability to notice some of the signs.
"I guess you're just one of those ones that need a bit more time to feel comfortable, huh," she smiled.
(22) Embernacht: 4 (2/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 29, 2023 11:48:17 GMT -6
Well, if watching her work and do stuff was what caught his attention long enough to get him more used to people in general, then she certainly had the time and space to get some chores down at the same time. The yard was in fairly good condition compared to the start of the year, back when she and Mear had done some fixing and correcting, but it was far from completely fixed. For some of it she'd need specialized tools, such as the tree paste to fill in some of the claw gashes left on both of the remaining trees, helping them clean up faster while also protecting from parasites.
But she still had some tools left here from last, such as some nails and a hammer, with a pile of tarp-covered good fresh wooden slats and beams. These were intended for the outer fence, which, while partly fixed, had still some rough spots here and there.
(23) Embernacht: 4 (3/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 29, 2023 11:48:32 GMT -6
Grabbing her things, and hauling a couple of slats over to one particularly badly affected (and slightly scorched) spot, the sphinx quickly got to work prying the old beams off with a crowbar and tossing them aside. A type of work that both made noise as much as it caused her to constantly move, and sure enough, it wasn't long before she could catch the sight of a yellow eye far off in the distance quietly observing her busy motions.
She tried to pay it less mind than last, least the wiurn assume she was judging him for the interest. Quite the opposite, if he's more used to seeing people doing, acting, working, just in general behaving, perhaps he wouldn't need to feel so aloof or distant from them. She didn't quite know what the kennel situation was back at the acquaintances place, and whether he'd truly be by himself or not, but at least he could see even small two-legged humanoid things could be interesting.
(24) Embernacht: 4 (4/5)
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Darky
Flea Market Artist
Veritas et Aequitas
Posts: 1,268
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Post by Darky on Nov 29, 2023 11:49:02 GMT -6
A good solid chunk of time passed when the fence was finally fixed up, new planks replacing the old, and the mammalian had hauled the old back to the discard pile. With few exceptions, the wiurn had watched her the entire time, perhaps even betraying a sense of curiosity over what she was looking to accomplish exactly.
Even so, whenever she did acknowledge the attention, Embernacht merely rolled over and otherwise shifted his weight, as if he could care less. With a smirk, the sphinx pulled the tarp back over the lumber, and hid away the tools once more, before finally dusting her hands off for one last time. The wiurn might not like her enough to tolerate her immediate presence close by, but it was clear he at least didn't mind the company from afar.
The acquaintance would, of course, have some catching up to do in that regard, since all forms of loyalty take time to achieve, but at least now they had a much better chance of it than before.
( Exit Embernacht )
(25) - (added) Embernacht: 5 (0/5)
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