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Post by Emery on Feb 21, 2024 11:16:43 GMT -6
Unfortunately, Moxie was still nowhere to be seen. The hallway was empty except for Emery, who couldn't move very quickly to keep up with him. He wasn't difficult to track however, given the scorch marks all over everything. Up ahead, she saw a spot where the scorch marks stopped, and she slowed to a halt as she came up to it. She looked around- there were no signs of a door. Where had he gone? Up above her, a chirp rang out. She looked up. The two birds he had been chasing were fluttering above her. "Oh, he still didn't catch you?" Emery asked, mostly to herself. On some level she was glad the birds were alright, but on the other hand they were technically responsible for all of this. If they hadn't shown up, Moxie never would have run off. As if in apology however, they started circling lower.
Moxie 12.4/12.4 Emery 4 44
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Post by Emery on Feb 21, 2024 11:29:35 GMT -6
Finally, they alighted on Emery's arm, as if happy to come with her now that they had the same interests in mind. "Well... fine then." Emery said, unable to argue with that. If worst came to worst, she could at least use them as bait for her kito. But that still left the question of where he WENT. She leaned on one wall, her hand coming into contact with a torch holder of some sort. She grabbed onto it for support, her cane still tucked under the arm the birds were sitting on. She had to think about this. Regrettably, she wouldn't get the chance as some sort of mechanism in the torch holder clicked. She looked at it and realized in an instant that there was a bird feather caught in it. Which meant that one of the birds had been sitting on it before. Which meant that Moxie likely tried to bite it.
Moxie 13.0/13.0 Emery 5 45
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Post by Emery on Feb 21, 2024 11:32:01 GMT -6
Before she could put together any more clever thoughts about it, the floor opened up beneath her. Her swearing was cut off as she plunged into the dark, kicking herself for not noticing the very obvious trap. The birds attempted to flutter away as she fell, but the one reflex she managed to maintain was grabbing them, bringing them down with her into the dark. She hit a ramp hard, and just knew that there was going to be a bruise on her hip later tonight. Luckily, she didn't feel any of her support structures get jostled out of place, but that WAS what they were there for. Her cane did clatter away however, and as she started sliding she heard it pick up speed and clatter away down the ramp. She'd have to find it when she came out, but for now she was stuck going along for the ride.
Moxie 13.1/13.1 Emery 6 46
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Post by Emery on Feb 21, 2024 11:37:20 GMT -6
Luckily, she didn't have to wait very long. Whatever this ramp was, it was slick and fast and soon she skidded to a stop on a polished wood floor. She looked up above her- more chandeliers decorated the ceiling above, their candles flickering with comforting light. She reached a hand down to support herself- and found it landing on her cane. Perfect. She pushed herself up with a loud grunt and looked behind her. The opening for the ramp was a black hole, and she couldn't even visually identify the substance that made up the floor of it. She moved to take a closer look but the opening slammed shut, revealing a featureless plane of wallpaper. The mansion didn't want her to see that part, apparently. Loudly, the creatures in her hand made their protest obvious. She was still holding the birds. Emery opened her hip pouch. "My apologies for this not being more comfortable, but alternatives are in short supply."
Moxie 13.2/13.2 Emery 7 47
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Post by Emery on Feb 21, 2024 11:40:39 GMT -6
Just as she was about to put the birds in however (to their frantic disapproval), she felt a nudge at her hip. Finally she turned around to see Moxie looking up at her, his head brought low to the ground bashfully. He definitely seemed to know that he had made a mistake of some sort- or perhaps he had just had a bad day and was now looking for comfort. Even then however, she couldn't help but notice how his eyes almost imperceptibly twitched between the birds and then back to her face. "Oh no. You've been terrible today. You are not getting a reward for poor behavior." She said, and shoved the birds in her pocket. She knew Moxie could be a pain, but even she didn't think he'd set her on fire just to get a snack. Sure enough that seemed to be the case, and he glanced away reluctantly.
Moxie 13.3/13.3 Emery 8 48
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Post by Emery on Feb 21, 2024 11:45:32 GMT -6
Emery nodded, satisfied. Just as she did so, she heard a creaking noise. Just then, she realized that this room they were in looked like the entry room of... well, an old fashioned mansion. A chest, a coat rack, a mirror over an end table. And the creaking came from- a front door! It opened widely, and through it Emery could see the same garden they entered from. Emery resisted the urge to laugh- mostly because her ribs hurt from hitting the slide. She had caused the mansion enough trouble that it was now spitting her out into the world again- asking her to leave. Well, she could do that... After grabbing a few more things. She hadn't gotten as many goodies as she would have liked from the mansion, so she went around and grabbed whatever small objects she could find that weren't nailed down. Cards, boxes of what looked like chocolates, all sorts of things.
Moxie 13.4/13.4 Emery 9 49
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Post by Emery on Feb 21, 2024 11:49:55 GMT -6
The whole time she did so, Emery kept an eye on the door. The mansion was being polite and letting her leave, but she didn't want to push her luck with it. Once her pockets were stuffed, she finally picked up the lead. Moxie was feeling quite sheepish about his behavior now that there was nothing left for him to shove in his mouth, so he followed along behind her meekly. He ducked under the doorway and they were finally free. Emery did make a note that the air outside of the mansion smelled the exact same as it did inside- perhaps reminding her that she wasn't truly free until she left the mansion grounds. Still, it didn't take her long to cross the front garden, gravel crunching under her feet. Soon she reached the cast iron gate and pushed it open, and then she WAS truly free, released back into the world once more.
Moxie 14.0/14.0 Emery 10 50
(Emery takes Moxie and leaves the mansion.)
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Post by Silver on Mar 8, 2024 17:28:10 GMT -6
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Post by Emery on Apr 9, 2024 13:44:11 GMT -6
A return to the Eccentric's Mansion was almost inevitable for Emery. This month was especially enticing for Emery- the holiday month of Tiken Tikal was in full swing by now. It was a time known for chaos and devilry. Neither of those things were normally Emery's jam. She was a very logically minded person, but she had to admit there was an appeal to it. That raw force and power and that came alive in the mansion this time of year- now that was interesting. As usual, she'd like to visit the mansion so she could take some samples. What those samples would entail this time, well... she couldn't imagine. That was the point, however- she'd like to find out. She tried researching what the mansion would be like this month in advance, but all of the sources had been wildly conflicting, and indeed that seemed to be the point. Moxie 66.1/66.1 Emery 11 1
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Post by Emery on Apr 9, 2024 14:19:03 GMT -6
Tiken Tikal was a time when she could expect the unexpected. One thing she wasn't expecting however, was how uncooperative Moxie was being. "Oh, come on." She muttered, tugging on his leash. "You will be fine. Cease your misbehavior." She stated plainly. He simply croaked loudly and yanked back on the leash some more, flaring out his leaves as wide as he could and trying his best to escape from his harness. She couldn't exactly out-muscle him, but he knew he didn't have a prayer of getting home on his own either- he just didn't want to go through the front gate, is all. She couldn't exactly blame him for digging in his heels though. His last two trips to the mansion hadn't exactly gone well. The first was during Vakrah, where he had failed to catch a couple of birds and as a result had nearly burnt the whole place down.
Moxie 66.2/66.2 Emery 12 2
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Post by Emery on Apr 9, 2024 14:55:12 GMT -6
That would have been fun for him, given that he got to eat plenty of other snacks on that trip, but Emery had scolded him quite heavily afterwards which put a bit of a damper on the whole thing. And then the second trip had been one that Emery had carried out for a quest. That one had been... bad. It involved bringing a magical object into the mansion that caused it to switch between the different times of displacement at nauseating speeds. Emery and Moxie could barely stomach it, and Emery wouldn't have accepted the job if she knew it would have that sort of effect on her... which was most likely precisely why her employer hadn't informed her to start with. While Emery had figured out the trick about three 'months' in, Moxie didn't have the sort of intelligence to make sense of what was happening around him.
Moxie 66.3/66.3 Emery 13 3
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Post by Emery on Apr 9, 2024 14:59:00 GMT -6
As a result the experience had been quite traumatic for him, and Emery wasn't surprised that he was acting this way now. "It won't be the same as last time, Moxie. You're fine." She said in a way that she hoped was comforting but was more than likely not. Though given it was Tiken Tikal, the mansion grounds would likely resemble a less severe version of their last trip. Emery sighed loudly. "Okay. Perhaps it will be slightly the same as last time. But we are better prepared now. You are better prepared now. You are a large, brave creature. Please walk." She said, pleading, and finally managed to drag Moxie the final few steps to the front gate. It opened smoothly with barely a noise, and Emery was finally able to drag her pet over the line into the mansion's grounds. She could only hope it went a bit more smoothly from here.
Moxie 66.4/66.4 Emery 14 4
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Post by Emery on Apr 9, 2024 18:05:44 GMT -6
Well, it certainly was... weird. Emery gazed out across the field in front of the mansion. A whipping wind pounded against her helm, making all sorts of wailing and whispering noises in voices that she was sure she recognized. All illusions, of course. Tricks of the mind. It whipped the grass into a frenzy too. It was long, up by her mid-calf, and was deep orange at the base while green at the tip. As a result, when the wind flowed through it in whirls and eddies it turned into a psychedelic pattern of sorts, undulating and twisting as she watched it. It was pretty, in a sense. Moxie didn't like it, of course. The kito immediately tried stomping on the blades, crushing them into the earth so they'd stop moving. He seemed to get a great deal of satisfaction out of it, as if he was slaying some sort of mighty foe.
Moxie 67.0/67.0 Emery 15 5
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Post by Emery on Apr 11, 2024 6:55:45 GMT -6
Emery was happy to let him have his fun- it gave her more time to investigate the mansion. It stretched up towards the sky, piercing through multiple layers of filmy clouds, like an oil slick had spilled on the sky. It didn't look particularly safe, but that was because it was breaking the laws of physics. It made the alarm bells labeled "its going to fall over" go off in her mind. But it wasn't really, now was it? It was no doubt going to change suddenly once she was inside (as that was what this month seemed to be all about), but that didn't mean it was necessarily a death trap. She might as well try and figure it out. After all, she was more likely to find individual trinkets she could bring home for study inside as opposed to out in the garden. And the garden looked a bit... venomous right now anyway.
Moxie 67.1/67.1 Emery 16 6
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Post by Emery on Apr 11, 2024 6:57:44 GMT -6
She eyed the climbing vines as she approached the mansion. They clung to the sides of the building, and she couldn't decide if it was like they were trying to pull it down or shore it up... until she saw one move. Climbing vines- they were literally climbing. Thick and black with a purplish tinge, each one bore a bright green spine, and she could hear them clicking like centipedes as they attempted to ascend the tower further, held back only by their own roots against the ground. Emery shuddered and made an additional note to not go in the garden- she didn't need them trying to climb up her as well. Or Moxie. The kito didn't seem to like them either, and made a low, threatened croak under his breath as they passed by the vines. One or two of them seemed to even turn their way as the couple passed.
Moxie 67.2/67.2 Emery 17 7
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