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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 19:16:25 GMT -6
The little sarane whelp begins shivering instantly, and makes another annoyed noise at the cold snow around him. Being so young, he really didn't know what he wanted or how to properly plan for the future. He was an impulsive little monster, though he wasn't aware of it on his own. He snuffs a little, harshly pushing his breath through his nose to blow off a little bit of snow that had collected at the tip of his muzzle. How dare the humanoid put him down in the cold?! He clearly did want down, but not if it was going to be this cold! He sneezes a bit after shivering and walking towards the humanoid, who had began walking away (he expertly avoided the heavy boot tread that the human left behind) and he nearly melted a patch of the snow in front of him. Amazed with the little bit of light that had left his muzzle, the Sarane tried to replicate it with no success.
[55] - [TBB: 5]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 21:28:21 GMT -6
Morgan finally turns around again after walking several feet in the direction of the noise that they had heard before (the one with the shuffling feathery noise across the soft snow drifts) because they kept hearing the little sarane whelp sneezing. They wondered if perhaps he'd gotten into anything he shouldn't have that might have bothered his nose, but they couldn't see anything amiss. "You regrettin' that decision yet, boyo?" Morgan asked him, voice still fairly reedy (perhaps a little more so even, it was very cold out in that pine stand, with the wind whipping the pine needle-covered branches above them around every now and again with a marked ferocity). The little sarane whelp looks up at them quietly, his bright golden eyes slightly squinted due to the wind. Morgan shook their head at him. "Dunno what you're doing, b-but come on." They waved at him out of habit, since they did that with most of their critters.
[56] - [TBB: 6]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 21:35:45 GMT -6
The little whelp hadn't really been trained up to this point. Morgan did not really have the time, they were so busy at their job recently- far more so than they had been for about a season. However, the little whelp did seem to be picking up on their mannerisms (and thank goodness!) as he followed Morgan whenever they gave him the hand signal. It struck Morgan as a little funny, they really hadn't spent all that much time with him by himself. Perhaps he was simply taking after them a little more quickly than they expected altogether. They didn't have long to think about it, because they heard a tell-tale call ahead of them- this one was definitely some kind of big bird, judging by the birdlike HARK sort of noise. Morgan may have missed out on finding the creature they were looking for earlier; but they were sure that they would catch this one!
[57] - [TBB: 7]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 22:00:50 GMT -6
Morgan hadn't quite seen the critter yet, obviously, but they were quite determined to work as hard as they could to discover it. They really hadn't had a lot of luck yet, unlike the last time they'd heard about some feral critters about (though it was much easier to find such beings in the garden than in a place as odd as the mansion's grounds). They weren't really familiar with the pine stand either, since they'd spent most of their previous December Mansion visit time stuck indoors while an especially bad winter storm raged on outside. Today it was fairly mild, between the snows (at least that came to their mind when they considered it) and they were thankful for it. A raging snowstorm would make searching for anything outside difficult, let alone feral creatures! They marched on, looking back every now and again to see if the little sarane whelp was following them or not.
[58] - [TBB: 8]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 22:05:29 GMT -6
Each time that the human looked back, they saw that the little brown whelp was doing his best to follow after them. A few times Morgan got a little concerned, since whenever he was around any brown roots or rocks in the pine stand he was nearly impossible to see. He had a bit of white on his back (with any luck, he would take after Pipi's really neat coloration with that- they hoped it hinted at it at least) and that with the brown made him blend in with anything brown that was covered with snow nearby. However, those bright golden eyes were a tell-tale sign that he was there. He was definitely slowing the human down, but perhaps that was for the better. Morgan knew that they shouldn't run up on any large creature (and the one they were following would -have- to be, right? With those super heavy footfalls!) too quickly.
[59] - [TBB: 9]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 22:11:06 GMT -6
Large carnivores were obviously very dangerous (even if generally found in good humor, like chiryma), but it was really the large herbivores that Morgan knew to be the most dangerous. Creatures that were generally prey animals were watchful -more watchful than the predators they were prayed upon by oftentimes- and always more vicious than any predator. Running up on the young of any creature was dangerous, but a possible feral prey creature? That could be the absolute worst possible decision one could make. Morgan was knowledgeable about such things (as were most beast tamers) so they kept light on their toes and kept scanning the area (moving their gaze back and forth, sweeping across the snowy pine stand) so that they wouldn't accidentally 'run up on' the creature that they could hear some distance ahead. They could never really tell what the creatures were- but the more they came up on this one, the more puzzled they felt. Finally, the stop- and the suddeness of it causes little S'morsel to run into their calf.
[60] - [TBB: 10]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 22:17:25 GMT -6
Morgan winced at that and turned around in surprise. Ow! That was definitely going to bruise. They could basically already feel the spot beginning to bloom into a bruise. They gave S'morsel the mean-mug for a moment, which was responded to with a little snuffle of defiance, and then they turned around to look at the thing that they had noticed. Somewhere up ahead of them on the trail was some sort of... Big fluffy thing. It seemed to lower its head to the snow, and then pop back off. They couldn't really even tell what color it was; it was so well hidden beyond them. They would not have noticed had the beast not moved in front of them. The lack of noise, or perhaps the little start that Morgan had given a moment earlier, seemed to alert the creature. It looks up, affixes them with shining eyes, and then moves off further into the brush.
[61] - [TBB: 11]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 22:25:51 GMT -6
The creature had been too far ahead of them for them to be able to do anything about it moving off into the brush, but seeing a glimpse of it gave them a good indicator that the mansion wasn't playing tricks on them (a real concern in these parts) and that there was an actual animal of some kind off in the pine stand out here. They hadn't managed to eke out the feline (though they did still feel oddly watched... It was an off-putting sensation for sure) from earlier quite yet, and of course they got the distinct impression that there was something or another out here with Feathers of some kind; but that thing that they saw? That definitely wasn't feathered or a feline- and it was HUGE. Morgan blinked, and then moved off into the brush in that direction, having turned around momentarily to pick up the sarane whelp to make the trip easier.
[62] - [TBB: 12]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 22:39:37 GMT -6
The bespectacled human had some concerns about whether or not that the little brown whelp would be able to follow them as closely as would need to be in the brush due to its thickness and his relative size; as well as the safety of him following them so closely. It was possible that the creature might be able to keep up but would also get struck by a piece of brush snapping back into place after Morgan pushed past it, and that just wouldn't do. Morgan didn't want him injured at all, let alone when he was still growing and when it might make him a less effective creature in the future. He struggled in their arms for a moment, and the human patted him to calm him down as they moved forward. They tried to catch up to the large creature, but they were very concerned about the way the ground seemed to shake when they got close. What was this thing?
[63] - [TBB: 13]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 22:55:20 GMT -6
It certainly couldn't be the fuzzy feathery thing from earlier, but they thought that it was fuzzy all the same. They doubted that it was the teeny-tiny little cat thing that had made the strand of paw prints that had lead them here to this pine stand in the first place. Unless it was a creature that could rapidly change its size; and wouldn't that be something? Morgan could imagine something like that being quite cool- but they sure did hope that this particular creature wasn't something like that. They would have to consider it for future ventures, though. Once they got the little whelp comfortable in their arm (nestled once again in the crook of it where it was warm; and goodness did the little beast need warmth because it was shivering so hard!) they pushed forward even faster, careful to keep the creature above the brush line to keep it from being injured.
[64] - [TBB: 14]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 23:02:14 GMT -6
The faster they moved, the more the brush seemed to want to stop them- and that made them even more careful with the whelp. The mansion was always difficult to navigate through- and Morgan was always sure that it was a purposeful thing when it came to the mansion. Whoever had owned the grounds had to have some reason for figuring out a way to make the grounds like this... It was something that Morgan struggled with thinking about but wasn't entirely certain was purely mechanical or (they sighed mentally just thinking about it) 'magical' in a way that science had not managed to crack up to that point. It was one of Morgan's biggest inspirations to figure out, and largest mountains to attempt to overcome.
Speaking of 'mountains' to overcome, Morgan thinks that they see it again, beyond the brush. It almost looked as if it had a hump along its back, or maybe a hump on its head? Or maybe that lump was it's head, and its hindquarters were just a little higher than average?
[65] - [TBB: 15]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 23:09:40 GMT -6
The human cannot help but squint at that, and stop again amidst the difficult terrain with one leg behind them in the brush and the other head of them and in an entirely different smattering of brush. They hunkered down slightly, over the whelp to hide its pretty pale golden eyes from the prying eyes of the creature as they saw it swing its great head around to look. Undoubtedly Morgan had been making a ridiculous amount of noise- and the creature had heard them. It was then that Morgan realized that it was something else entirely- not the bird they were sure that they had heard somewhere along the way (perhaps they had gone the opposite direction of that creature?) nor the little stealthy cat that they were certain they had also heard but not seen- and instead had went towards a creature... with a trunk?
They shivered as a wind went through, rustling the brush.
[66] - [TBB: 16]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 23:14:42 GMT -6
For a moment after the wind blowing through, all was very still. The creature looked at them, and they could (while standing stark still and hunched over in the cold brush and trying their hardest not too blink or shiver too much or show anything that might catch the monster's attention) just make out what looked like... A tusk. Was that.... A snorfle? A big fluffy snorfle? They swallowed hard. It couldn't be that. They hadn't seen anything like that before. Then again, they'd never seen an ethereal golossle that could be touched and felt like the one they had caught before either. Their brain seemed to take a moment to breathe, and it felt like the gears in their head came to a screeching halt. That was a... Rather abnormal snorfle for sure, if that was indeed what it was. They weren't entirely convinced.
Finally, the creature turns around and continues walking, and only then did the sarane whelp wriggle again.
[67] - [TBB: 17]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 23:19:39 GMT -6
Morgan breathes out a sigh of relief at the lack of attention. That creature was definitely moving through the brush much more easily than they had been, and they most certainly could have been stomped flat by it so easily that they couldn't help but staying stark still beneath it's generally easy-going seeming gaze. It had a glint in its eye... A Glint that gave them pause. A Glint that said 'try me'. Morgan definitely didn't feel the need to protect theirself using their magic today, dealing with a whelp at the same time. They really didn't want to worry about not hurting a giant angry beast nor a little fragile whelp that was still in process of growing, so they chose not to deal with it.
However, as they felt the ground rumbling as it was getting away, Morgan carefully re-tucked the whelp into their elbow and moved forward again. They were too curious not to follow it.
[68] - [TBB: 18]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 23:22:00 GMT -6
It was probably one of the more impulsive decisions that they had made- but how does a creature tamer (and one that planned to break a sarane drake soon enough at that!) avoid such a big and interesting creature- one of a sort that they had not seen before at that? Morgan could not. At the very least, it would be interesting to study it. At best, they might could even figure out a few of the techniques that were eluding them genetically that had been causing trouble for their practice recently? The more individuals they removed genes from to test, the better it would be overall. They may never find what they are looking for, but it couldn't hurt. Still, they were taking a big risk to go after the big creature, and they had a little sarane baby with them at the same time that would make the process even more difficult than it already was.
[69] - [TBB: 19]
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