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Post by Morgan on Nov 20, 2021 13:49:19 GMT -6
Morgan was having a very busy year, and they didn't even notice until well into the month of November that they had not even tried to go out to the Mansion in a full year. They had so religiously went out to study the mansion for so long that it was a bit of a whiplash to realize that the opening of WELP had drained so much of their energy. They had hardly been able to do any sort of true investigation of the mansion's strange November changes the first time they came through, and they could scarcely remember the short-lived attempt (that had been cut off by a call from their lab) from the year previous.
It was truly now or never; they needed desperately to make up for their failures in years previously. Armed with research note-taking material and their familiar, they felt more prepared this year than the previous ones for their research.
[1] - [New Trip!]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 20, 2021 14:23:12 GMT -6
Kaodie was still having a bit of a difficult time adjusting to the new calibrations to his prosthetic. Though Morgan had first affixed him years ago with a prosthetic that was very simple (in fact; this was what had first interested Morgan in engineering at all) since they had worked off and on with upgrades (part of their learning was done with those upgrades in fact) and they were certain that the latest iteration was the best iteration they could muster for it. The issue was that Kaodie was used to maneuvering with less... Adaptive models, so practically having a foot that might as well have worked just the same as the others was something that had to be gotten used to, again.
"Sorry boyo." Morgan murmurs to him when they are sure he isn't listening- it was going to be a bit of a 'getting used to' thing despite it being better in the long run. They stand just on the far side of the gate now, Morgan looking a little out of sorts.
They had forgotten how unsettling it could be to stand on dead near-winter grass and look at a lush garden just beyond an arbitrary gate boundary.
[2]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 20, 2021 21:44:02 GMT -6
Still, there was something for concern (hardy concern was all they would admit that it was) and there was something else to be said about being able to do the things one wanted to do as a child when they had the power upon the age of majority to do so. Standing here with Kaodie (while he was carrying this particular rainbow-hued rope toy that he had appropriated from the houluh kennel on Morgan's Property; one he absolutely refused to let go of regardless of any commands by Morgan) at the edge of the Mansion's grounds- and they already knew what to expect (at least they felt like they were prepared well enough)...
It was easy to remember them standing out at the edge of their own property as a kid, with the malii, just dreaming of adventuring in the spooky mansion they'd heard about across town. It was very easy to imagine all sorts of neat things being there.
Today; today they were going to see if they couldn't see all they could about the supposedly haunted place.
[3]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 20, 2021 21:57:59 GMT -6
November was a special month. After all this time, and all the work that that the bespectacled individual had put behind them to figure out information that might allow them to figure out for sure exactly what happened to their father; they still believed that it was this particular month in the mansion that held the information that they needed. They'd put the project on hold for such a long period of time since they'd opened up the foundation; and now... Now they needed to look; anything that could confirm their suspicions would do it. They might could... Put it to rest.
Morgan set their jaw, teeth together in the back, and narrowed their eyes. It pulled their thin lip into a frown. Kaodie moves back behind their leg, head up and tail wagging in a mixture between the malii's curl that it should have been, and something a little bit on the... Vaguely canid-like side.
"...Let's go Kaodie."
[4]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 20, 2021 22:06:48 GMT -6
Their bond was... More an embarrassment than anything else- it showed Morgan's sentimental side. Over coffee, Dys had once told them that she'd have expected Morgan to have taken a dragon as their familiar. Morgan had scoffed; and they did mean their words- 'Dragons serve no one.' Morgan could attest to that. They felt so strongly about it that they perhaps would have been a little insulted to try to take one as such. Dys had a strong belief that familiars were a reflection of one's true soul. Morgan thought about that, oddly enough, as they pushed open the rather simple gate and stepped into that ultra-verdant garden. Kaodie followed after them, expression blank but Morgan knew that he'd be on the lookout. There had always been something a little extra clever about the creature -he was a malii after all-, and their father's gift. Kaodie watched them grow up where he could not. Morgan hated the sentimentality of it, but having him here with them for this attempt was important to them.
[5]
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Post by Nadia on Nov 21, 2021 11:51:18 GMT -6
That's an interesting mask!
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Post by Morgan on Nov 21, 2021 12:13:35 GMT -6
Morgan had made an ill-fated attempt to do this at night, that one time they'd managed to study the November 'changes' to this rather eccentric building. This time, they'd come to the grounds early in the morning, hoping for a 'kinder' daytime trip, though they didn't really have any proof that the mansion tended towards such. At least their day-time trips tended to go better on average, and it was prevalent enough in their old notes for them to be a tad more willing to try it this time. Better odds for success were always worth a small amount of over-preparation.
For a moment, the human hesitates- thick boot tread on the abnormally thick grass that bordered on emerald green. They glanced down at Kaodie in a rare moment of uncertainty; and the creature looked up at them with a sort of blankness that made them feel silly and a little bit frustrated.
[6]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 21, 2021 12:32:03 GMT -6
When they turned back around, they were surprised by the glint of something shiny in the distance. They'd nearly forgotten this tendency of the mansion's various peculiarities. Of course, they noticed them shortly after Kaodie did (Morgan was always at least minimally distracted by their thoughts- something that they didn't necessarily find to be a purely negative experience). Kaodie takes off in that direction rather quickly, but Morgan hangs back for a moment, assessing possible dangers.
They half expected to be drawn to a massive logic-defying carnivorous plant, so they weren't entirely shocked whenever they instead watched Kaodie approach a large tree of a kind that Morgan was not familiar with and begin to look pointedly up in the branches. Morgan stays a bit further back but approaches as well, watching as a large vine (moving, because of course it was) dangled a mask and something else quite shiny just above Morgan's own reach.
[7]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 21, 2021 12:39:50 GMT -6
This answered a question that Morgan had been asking themselves; did all of the mansion months repeat their typical offerings? It would appear so. They had a mask nearly this one's identical twin at home, something that they had studied. They were still unsure how the mansion was doing this; but it was growing more and more likely that there was some sort of 'pattern'. The bespectacled human tended to lean towards scientific explanations despite everything; and the idea of a machine hidden deep within the bowels of the mansion that simply 'copied' and 'reproduced' the items to be teleported all over the grounds made Morgan chuckle.
That was about when the tree snapped forward with a vine with a decent amount of speed for such a thing, and Kaodie jumps back just in time (and scarcely so) to avoid the worst of it. He makes a soft surprised noise and then falls back beyond the reach of the vine.
"That'll teach ya." Morgan murmurs beneath their breath- glasses glinting in the light projected from the shiny object.
[8]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 21, 2021 13:21:09 GMT -6
One would think that the malii would have learned forever ago not to get too close to things that were possibly dangerous- what with the loss of his foot so long ago. On top of this, he tripped a bit over the new prosthetic. Morgan didn't entirely feel sorry for him; he was going to have to learn on his own regardless. Morgan would have to trust him to take care of himself provided they ever needed to fight- and the more that they worked in the field that they did the more they were convinced that one day they would have to.
Kaodie stood next to Morgan's side now, and it seemed quite obvious that he was intending on trying to protect them. This provoked a rare honest smile from the bespectacled human, that was quickly replaced with a frown and concentration. What was the old command again? It had been quite a while since they had time to work with him...
[9]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 21, 2021 13:41:48 GMT -6
Morgan's hand is about the whistle around their neck before they can really think about it, and they bring it to their lips as they would with any of their other creatures. Had they really trained Kaodie's sparse commands on the whistle that they'd long since stopped using; perhaps some of the first whistled command's they'd ever worked with? The command comes easily enough once Morgan has the whistle readied; and Kaodie seems quite out of practice whenever he whips his tongue out to wrap it around the thing Morgan was pointing at; that is, the items in held just above their reach otherwise by the long vine.
Kaodie brings his reach back towards his mouth with the two items; but of course the toy is still within his jaws so they drop to the ground instead. Kaodie looks surprised; down at the items and then back up at Morgan. The vine from earlier stretches forward with a vicious crack- drawing both of their attentions from the shiny items.
[10]
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Post by Nadia on Nov 21, 2021 14:07:24 GMT -6
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Post by Morgan on Nov 21, 2021 18:15:29 GMT -6
They were just outside of the range of the thrashing of the vine, and Morgan had not intentions of getting any closer to it not one bit. After a moment of watching the tree (apparently completely writhing with such vines at this point) and deciding upon a course of action, they backed up. "C-com'on Kaodie." Their voice a tad cool and a bit harshly clipped towards the end. They turned towards the mansion itself, head on a swivel for any other dangerous plants. There were quite a few that Morgan would have loved to take clippings of- some of them didn't have leaf configurations that matched anything that had been researched to their knowledge. They knew better than to get too close, especially when one of them that they had an interest enough in to stray close enough to look at in more detail turned out to be something with snap-jaw traps.
Kaodie wrapped his tongue around the items from before and had trotted after Morgan, keeping much closer since the close call!
[11]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 21, 2021 18:41:52 GMT -6
The human's attempt at a beeline for the front door was, as typically experienced, thwarted quite easily by the lawn appearing to morph in front of their eyes. Morgan sometimes wondered if they were particularly easily thwarted by such things. They had done quite a bit of sleuthing before having checked out the mansion for the first time before, so they had heard quite a few stories of people getting the hood put over their eyes, with things not being quite what they appeared...
Morgan walks back to the gates and walks around, viewing the mansion from that distance until the way appears to straighten again. Before they began to attempt to trek again, they turned back around to Kaodie and bend down. "Give m-me those, Kaodie." They coax, voice soft. The creature looks at Morgan's hand expectantly, but doesn't move.
"C-come on, Kaodie, give me those." This time they reach down and take them theirself, by hand. Kaodie gives them up without argumentation, but Morgan is reminded about how they really need to work with him more, and soonish.
[12]
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Post by Morgan on Nov 21, 2021 18:49:40 GMT -6
They make a bit of a face, but they didn't have a lot of time to worry about how much they needed to work on Kaodie's manners. They opened up their backpack just a crack and shoved the items in before zipping it up. In the future, whenever they had time to work with Kaodie, he'd make a pretty excellent partner on these sorts of trips. At the very least, he'd be able to grab things from far off (maybe even things that Morgan missed? It would be well worth working on in the future).
After slinging the backpack back over their shoulder they stand and wave Kaodie out of habit to follow them. "Now let's try this again..." They murmur beneath their breath. They keep their gaze mostly on the front door to keep theirself from being as easily 'tricked' this time. With any luck, if there was anything dangerous- Kaodie would notice it and make some kind of noise.
[13]
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