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Post by Zenjesi on Feb 26, 2024 21:22:48 GMT -6
In response to Ramal's question, Zenjesi shook their head. "No meat," they confirmed, though again, they had the sudden fear that the assessment was made too soon. With the way life and magic were represented around the Labs they halfway expected some massive beast to choose this moment to unearth itself from beneath them and prove the vines were merely its fur, or --
Their wayward thought was thankfully disrupted by their friend's action. The satyr sat back while Ramal searched the greenhouse, offering Marian a weak smile as she began to return to control of herself. As her limbs relaxed, so too did her facial muscles, allowing her expression to shift from what had been simple moodiness to deep irritation. "Is your only pastime seething?" they whispered to her with a sigh. Surely there was something that they could use to soothe her. Something, preferably, that was not destruction or violence; those two made bonding difficult.
Ramal returned before Marian was able to gather her aggression, so Zenjesi quickly gathered a workable set of gloves. They nodded their agreement to his request, then crawled into the tangle once more. "You must be careful. The root is tricky." They tested the gloves against a thorn, then, satisfied that they would be protected, they tightly gripped the thickest part of the stalk. "Sometimes, very fragile. Sometimes... very... strong," they grunted with exertion as they tugged on and twisted at the stubborn plant. Their hooves dug grooves into the dirt before finally, with a deep pop, the root broke free. Zenjesi fell back onto the ground, breathless, and presented it to Ramal for study.
Zenjesi: 1.0 - logged Marian: 4.0, 2.0
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Post by Emery on Feb 28, 2024 11:32:32 GMT -6
Of course, the kito's behavior could also probably be improved by regular exercise, so all the more reason that she should be doing this. Soon, a sign came into sight on the sidewalk, reading "Welcome to the Community Park" in hand painted letters. Emery hadn't remembered seeing it before on her walks, but she rarely came this way anyway. It was probably worth a look, as it was clearly open to the public and encouraged for use. "Come along, Moxie." She said, gently tugging on her kito's lead. He grunted slightly but followed, stepping between the fence posts on either side. She stepped over fallen leaves as she walked, not crunchy and new but old and wet, slicked and cemented onto the concrete from months of not being cleaned. She looked around- despite the sign looking newly made (albeit by hand), the property itself looked rather run down and disused.
Emery 2 Moxie 14.2/14.2
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Post by Emery on Feb 28, 2024 15:51:52 GMT -6
She wondered if the place had just reopened after a long period of being... left fallow, then. That wasn't ideal, but she supposed it wasn't their fault. And yet, she didn't feel any particular urge to stick around. The wooded gardens here were quite overgrown. While Emery didn't have to worry about ticks with her full body clothing (plus, that wasn't usually something you had to worry about this far into the city), the level of foliage made a bad combination with Moxie. He was part plant himself, so he felt right at home among plants, but unfortunately occasus kito had... an unfortunate tendency to set things on fire. She had had quite a few incidents with Moxie himself as of late, and she wasn't about to risk another one on someone else's property. Perhaps if the plants had been properly tended she would, but the amount of fallen leaves and debris around was dangerous.
Emery 3 Moxie 14.3/14.3
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Post by Emery on Feb 28, 2024 15:55:49 GMT -6
Emery stepped on a stick experimentally- it snapped clean in half, bone dry. Just as she thought- this whole place was a powder keg. Just then however, a rustling came from a nearby bush. Moxie's head immediately snapped around. Perhaps it was a squirrel, perhaps it was a bird, but whatever it was, he would probably try to eat it despite the muzzle over his jaws. And if he wasn't able to snap it up, he would try and make it stop moving first. And his most favorite method of making things stop moving was to set them on fire. And they were surrounded by highly flammable materials. She had to get him away from whatever was making that noise, quickly. "This way, Moxie." She said sharply, tugging on his lead. It took a few tries but he eventually followed her, though his eyes were still trained on that rustling bush.
Emery 4 Moxie 14.4/14.4
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Post by Emery on Feb 28, 2024 15:59:32 GMT -6
Absentmindedly, she walked him to a nearby building. It was the only one in the park as far as she could tell, though it was quite large. She hadn't really walked towards it intentionally but it was the only place she could see around here that was immediately fireproof... hopefully. Or at the very least, was unlikely to contain squirrels. She pushed open the door with a bit of effort- its hinges were pretty stuck- and walked inside, with Moxie following in after her. She looked around at the entry lounge- the objects here seemed clean and new-ish, but it was rather sparse overall. No one was at the front desk, but a little sign with "hours of operation" written on it showed that she was indeed in the right place at the right time. It was just... unused. "...Well, it can't hurt to take a look around." She said, mostly to herself.
Emery 5 Moxie 15.0/15.0
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Post by Emery on Feb 29, 2024 9:12:40 GMT -6
She crept through the rooms with Moxie by her side, who seemed just as curious. This place was rather spacious inside, so he didn't actually have to crouch to stand up properly, though he did have to bend down a bit to get through door frames. Still, he had plenty of space to move around here, which was unusual for a creature his size, so he seemed quite pleased to be allowed into a normally "forbidden" area. Perhaps he was on his best behavior so as to not get kicked out, or perhaps he was behaving in a way that he might call 'sneaky', but either way he was being quiet and relatively still, being careful to not knock anything over. Emery opened a few doors and could tell that some of these rooms were supposed to have some sort of function- study rooms, a kitchen, a dining room- but simply didn't have the supplies to actually function right now.
Emery 6 Moxie 15.1/15.1
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Post by Emery on Feb 29, 2024 9:20:12 GMT -6
For a few of the rooms however, she couldn't tell what they were supposed to be at all. She opened one and it was simply a concrete floor with cinderblock walls. The walls were painted a dark blue near the bottom and white towards the top. A few small windows were set high on the wall towards the ceiling, but otherwise the room was completely empty. She could only imagine what it was meant to be used for- or perhaps it had no particular function, instead simply being there for whatever small event needed hosting that day. To her surprise though, Moxie yanked on the lead, dragging her into the room after him and the door closed on its own behind them. She yelped in surprise, her vocalizer warbling it into an electronic mess as she struggled to regain her footing. "What, what is it? Did you see something?" She asked, rubbing her pulled shoulder.
Emery 7 Moxie 15.2/15.2
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Post by Emery on Feb 29, 2024 9:22:51 GMT -6
As she looked around though, she realized that there was one thing of interest in the room that she hadn't noticed on their way in- another occupant. A single rat sat in the corner of the room, having been nibbling idly on some crumbs that someone had left behind from some former event. It wasn't eating now though, its deep black eyes peering into Moxie's admittedly similar but far, far larger eyes. The two creatures stood at a standoff on opposite sides of the room, though Moxie was several hundred times larger than it. "...Moxie." Emery said, a warning in her voice. "It's just a rat. You can't... you shouldn't do that. We have food at home. You've already eaten today." Emery said, listing off reasons for Moxie to not chase the rat. Unfortunately, he heard none of them and slowly began creeping forward towards the tiny creature, a string of drool coming off of his chin.
Emery 8 Moxie 15.3/15.3
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Post by Emery on Feb 29, 2024 9:33:43 GMT -6
The rat, understandably, decided that it no longer wanted to be here and bolted away from the corner, along the wall, its tiny feet skittering across the polished concrete. Moxie was off like a shot after him, but his heavier body meant he had less momentum going after it, and the rat quickly gained on him. Emery stammered out a protest but they were both off to the races, with Moxie slamming into walls and huffing flames out through his muzzle. Luckily he couldn't open his mouth wide enough to breathe out a proper gout of fire, but it was clear that he wanted to as he twitched his head forward and back, keeping both eyes trained on his prey. The rat was terrified of course, with nowhere to hide and limited energy to run from the giant monster chasing it. Emery could only stare in shock for a moment, observing the ridiculous scene.
Emery 9 Moxie 15.4/15.4
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Post by Emery on Feb 29, 2024 9:42:28 GMT -6
After a moment however, she had had enough. She crouched down, and when the rat ran by her in its frantic scurrying, she grabbed it off the ground in a single movement. It squealed loudly and tried to bite her, but her thick gloves protected her from its frantic actions. And thank goodness it did- she really didn't need a round of rabies vaccines right now. She glanced around and realized that one of the windows was open, so with a few steps (avoiding Moxie, who was still trying to gain traction on the smooth floors to run after her) she stood underneath it and gently tossed the rat out the window. It disappeared with a single squeak, and she heard it land in the bushes outside and quickly scamper away. She stepped back and Moxie instantly pressed himself beneath the window, staring sadly at it as if that would make it bring the rat back. She simply patted him on the back. "I think... that's enough exercise for the day." She said, and grabbed his leash to bring him home.
Emery 10 Moxie 16.0/16.0 (Emery takes Moxie and leaves.)
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Post by Emery on Apr 4, 2024 13:17:30 GMT -6
Emery had returned to the community park, this time with a goal in mind. This place was honestly in a sad state of disrepair, but she figured it didn't have to stay that way. After all, it was meant to be a, ah, community project of sorts. Anyone was welcome to help out around the place. Last time she had really just taken a look around to see what was there, but she had some free time today. Might as well take the opportunity to look around and see what could be done. She stepped through the front gate, with Moxie in tow. He needed his exercise as usual, and it could be quite difficult to wear a creature of his size out. Hopefully this place would have something interesting to keep him occupied- and he wouldn't go nuts chasing a rat like he did last time. That was a little difficult for her to deal with.
Emery 1 Moxie 60.1/60.1
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Post by Emery on Apr 4, 2024 14:53:42 GMT -6
Moxie had grown a lot since then, however. Even physically. She had completed his gym training since then and now he was about as powerful as a kito could possibly get, with muscles rippling under his skin and his fanned leaves flowing in the wind. He was a very handsome specimen, to say the least. But emotionally he was better as well. They had grown closer in a sense, and had a much better read on how the other was feeling by this point. Moxie knew that Emery needed to be looked after and listened to for her own sake if anything, and Emery no longer had to worry about him running off on his own... or at least doing so without her explicit permission. She still kept his muzzle on when they were out and about, but that was mostly for other peoples' comfort by this point as opposed to keeping him under control.
Emery 2 Moxie 60.2/60.2
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Post by Emery on Apr 5, 2024 10:55:34 GMT -6
He kept a closer eye on her than he used to, so Emery felt safe in letting his leash drop once they were inside. He followed after her politely. From there, she just had to figure out what to do. She wandered around for a bit, coming across a concrete plane in the middle of the park. It was likely used to drive vehicles onto temporarily for deliveries, or perhaps to play sports or set up stands for various events. Emery couldn't really guess. For now though, it was simply covered in dirt that had been washed onto it from various rainstorms, fallen leaves sticking to the pavement. A bit unsightly, but that was the state of the place. Emery didn't have any ideas for cleaning it... but she did have ideas for doing something else. She looked back at the main focus of the park, the trees and greenery.
Emery 3 Moxie 60.3/60.3
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Post by Emery on Apr 5, 2024 10:58:52 GMT -6
A lot of it was overgrown, weeds pushing up between cracks in the sidewalk and around the edges of larger plants, threatening to consume them- or at least steal much needed nutrients from the soil. The trees were untrimmed, choking light needed for the understory out. As a result, the bushes grew in thin and weedy, impossible to properly shape. To add insult to injury, various branches of the trees that had died or been knocked down during a storm had fallen into the bushes and gotten stuck, making them look even worse. To its credit, some work had already been done on this area by other people. Emery could see a few flower patches that had been restored, and many patches of grass had had their leaves raked up. It just wasn't enough for such a large area. Not that Emery could fix it all up herself either- but she could help.
Emery 4 Moxie 60.4/60.4
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Post by Emery on Apr 5, 2024 11:00:52 GMT -6
She just had to pick a manageable task. There was no sense in biting off more than she could chew. She looked around at the bushes and trees, and decided that the dead branches sticking out of the bushes were the worst to look at. They also probably provided the biggest public hazard. Many of them were still quite sharp, and if someone stumbled into one it could easily give you an infection if you managed to cut yourself on them. So Emery would start there and if she managed to make good progress, so be it. So she walked over to a nearby bush, yanking one of the branches she saw out of it. Moxie came over and sniffed at what she was doing immediately, but lost interest when he realized that what she was collecting wasn't anything he could eat. He might be easier for Emery to command now, but he still had a one track mind.
Emery 5 Moxie 61.0/61.0
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