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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 23:25:11 GMT -6
Luckily for the bespectacled human (who was not usually lucky by any means) their own tiny monstrosity was not causing them any more issues than they had previously had with him. In fact, he seemed even a little more placid than he had been. Perhaps he was getting used to Morgan's scent, or perhaps he was simply starting to get wise that wriggling too much would cause him to be put in the snow, and that was too cold for a little feller like him. Either way, Morgan was pleased with the change. Perhaps they would be able to find a way to coax the creature home after all, without too much of a problem from the little sarane whelp that they had brought with them today. They followed after the loud sounds of the large creature moving through the brush, not really paying as much attention to the pine tree boughs above them- which they definitely should have been doing.
[70] - [TBB: 20]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 23:33:31 GMT -6
Little did Morgan know, far above them in the pine tree boughs that bent and bowed as the wind brushed through them, the movements of a lithe little feline were concealed very simply from their view. Even if Morgan had been looking, there was very little chance that the creature would have been seen, since the movement of the pine tree needles and branches would have been perfectly matched roll for roll by the creature's deft footprints. It felt the world with it's careful feelers, as any creature of its ilk was wont to do. It followed the interesting pair with a tilted head, listening for the little sounds beneath the noises of the great crashing beast's feet ahead of them. The object of its interest was not the humanoid at all; but the little scraplet that looked so delicious that they held in their elbow. To the creature, the pair appeared to be parent and offspring- and the little sarane whelp looked about bite-sized.
Morgan didn't even know that it was there as they followed along after the big beast's stomps.
[71] - [TBB: 21]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 23:36:35 GMT -6
Soon though, Morgan was alerted to its prescience by the cracking of a branch above. They glanced up, and their eyes met some high in the branches, before they disappeared behind a great branch rife with pine needles of the most blue green. "What was that?" Morgan asks, their voice sharp. It had startled them into inaction, their shoulders stark and harsh with near right angles as the wind flowed over them. The noise that they had made had startled the whelp- which cried out with uncertainty, and even worse that particular noise seemed to alert the creature beyond them (the great one) into stopping to turn around and look at them yet again. Morgan was caught stark by the beast, and they weren't certain if they should begin running or if they should continue to stand stark still and stay as quiet as possible. The little whelp decides for them, letting out a piercing shriek again.
[72] - [TBB: 22]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 23:44:42 GMT -6
Oh no, that meant that they needed to GO GO GO! It took no seconds flat for the giant beast to turn it's hulking body around (surprisingly fast oh heck NO) and began barreling their direction. Morgan most certainly had maneuverability on the creature, but they didn't really have speed in all of this brush. There were definitely a lot of benefits to being a giant towering monster, and one of those was apparently stepping over and on brush like it was flat earth. Morgan had to push through it, and finally realized that they were going to have to employ a dodge and weave pattern. The giant beast was not capable of twisting the hulk of its massive body to be able to match that pattern, and luckily for them it seemed like being a smaller and dodgier sort of being was also helpful. They snugged the little whelp to theirself to keep from dropping it and ran as fast as possible.
[73] - [TBB: 23]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 23:49:01 GMT -6
The whelp definitely did not like this development in their day, but he certainly did have wits enough about him to know not to move or struggle. Instead, he holds on to the human with his own sickle-like claws, pushing them into the folds of their sleeve to make sure that even if Morgan did begin to drop him that he wouldn't fall all the way down and might even be able to scramble back up into their arms without being dropped and possibly eaten by the monster that he could so easily smell. Morgan's zig-zag pattern of fleeing seemed to begin to pay off as well as finally the giant hulking beast stopped and snuffed at the air. They turned around a tree and then hid behind it, really banking on the creature not quite having the best of movement-related sight. That thing ate plants, right? Morgan hoped that it was still the case here- they would have even crossed their fingers.
[74] - [TBB: 24]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 30, 2021 23:54:41 GMT -6
Finally, the creature seems to calm down. Morgan notices that its ears become much less... Well, flappy was the word that came to their mind. It lowered its great... Trunk they guessed, and then it began to search in their direction, slowly. They swallowed, nervous that it may become enraged again. Then occurred to them all in one thought that perhaps it had only grown angry because they had made a loud noise and it could not see them; only sort of triangulate the noise's direction and that it had slammed into that direction full force because it was afraid. Morgan had brought some treats with them, so they carefully leaned out and put their hand out palm up. They nearly shook with fear whenever the creature's soft trunk grabbed the piece of treat from their hand... Perhaps they could make friends with it?
(Timeskip!)
...After another few hours of exploration, the pair went home for then. The forest finally opened up and let them out as easily as it had captured and confounded them earlier earlier.
[75] - [The pair go home for now. If Morgan needs to return for a creature encounter, they will return with a different pet.]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 12:33:35 GMT -6
Morgan returned just before the end of the month. Though they didn't have much time to do any more exploring, they wanted to spend about an hour milling about the property to see if they could find anything else of interest. So far, they hadn't really found much this year. A couple of bells, a couple of odd critters- and that snox of course. Because of this, they weren't too worried about taking Whisper with them, though she was very small and might be difficult to protect if they were attacked (that large lumpy creature came to mind from the other day). "What do you think, Whisper?" Morgan asks the little creature, holding the creature up in their palms so that she could see the snow just ahead of them past the gate. "Y-you ain't ever seen snow before, have you?" They couldn't quite remember if they had taken her out to the mansion when there was snow on the ground or not. [76] - [Morgan is using Sever Bond]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 13:08:43 GMT -6
They had spent quite a bit of time with Whisper over the while that they had her, but as with anything else they'd worked on they really didn't have the time to take them all out at once to get them more used to them or to train them more than the absolute basics. Whisper knew things, a few of them. Her name, to follow when told, to come to them on command- and to stay where Morgan told him to. It wasn't a whole lot, but it was enough to keep her out of the worst behaviors that she could have. They needed to work with her further, and they were hoping to make the first of the slow start into working with her again with this simple outing.
Whisper wasn't all that interested in the snow. "No way, have you s-seen it before?" Perhaps it was that she was a little simple- but she didn't really seem interested in it at all.
[77]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 13:18:24 GMT -6
Morgan pats the little scaley beast on the head, and allows theirself a small smile whenever her bright little eyes close and she leans into it. She sure was a very docile creature, for something that looked so dangerous (yet so tiny). Well, they didn't have all the time in the world, so they walk towards the gate anyway. "J-just an hour or so to check for anything of interest." They murmured to theirself, under the guise of speaking to the tiny creature. They were mostly reassuring theirself. 'Just an hour' trips to the mansion sometimes felt much longer than that, and their energy was beginning to run out fairly quickly. This time of year really sucked it out of them for some reason. They were convinced it was just the cold, but it was probably a little bit something else too.
They pushed the gate open, and it came open with a pronounced creak.
[78]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 13:25:24 GMT -6
Sometimes it seemed like the mansion was not always as eager for them to be there. Morgan was convinced that the gate was electronic or controlled via a spring, because it seemed to be a little creakier when they came towards the end of the month than towards the beginning. They were certain it was a trick or some sort. There were probably cameras or something else of the like set up, and maybe even something that could trace which individuals were which to some degrees of success. Of course some months just had creakier gates than others (probably to add to a spooky effect) and that just added to their assumption. They turn around to close the gate behind them with some amount of reluctance (maybe they should take Whisper out somewhere a little less dangerous next time they were going to do anything) since they really just wanted to spend a small amount of time out here, and closing the gate always came with the chance that it wouldn't open again.
[79]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 13:29:48 GMT -6
Whisper was quite the good little critter. She didn't often complain, and she didn't often want to be put down. Instead she snuggled into Morgan's palm for more pets and scritches until Morgan put her near their pocket again, and she wriggled down into the pocket and turned around to poke her head out so that she could see. Morgan had to admit, whenever they managed to get her to grow- they were going to miss her being so tiny and cute. "You a-aren't going to grow up into a giant monster, are ya?" There was always a good chance of that, everything could be a gamble. These creatures were not like modern labs creatures like their familiar, which had been so genetically modified that it hardly looked like the base species upon the first glance. These creatures were something else entirely.
They nearly fell over a snow drift that had formed around something heavy; like a brick.
[80]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 14:07:53 GMT -6
It had hurt one of Morgan's toes too, on the way down. It wasn't a permanent hurt, they were sure of that- but they'd certainly stubbed it on the brick or whatever it was. They managed to catch theirself without jostling the little dark-scaled beast too much. They cursed a bit, and though they would have loved for it to have been beneath their breath they most certainly made quite a loud noise. The noise bounced across the snowy 'garden' (well it had been the mansion's garden last month) like a fleeing deer, and then bounced off of the walls like a bat had made the noise instead. Morgan frowns as they stand up, squinting at the numbness in their toe. "You o-okay, Whisper?" Morgan asks the little beast, opening their pocket to look when they didn't notice her peering out from the top of the pocket. She had curled up in the bottom of the pocket anxiously and was shivering.
[81]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 14:18:36 GMT -6
"I didn't m-mean to scare ya." Morgan says, pushing their glasses further up their nose from where they had fallen closer to their nose tip due to the near fall. "P-poor thing." They reached their hand down into the oversized pocket to pat her on the head. The little creature reaches up and snuffles into Morgan's hand. "No treat for ya right now..." Morgan murmured. They had brought some, but little Whisper had just been fed not too long before and they didn't want to mess with the creature's diet too much. They still had to decide how the rest of her food additives were to be planned out. They figured that adding some extra sugar to her diet wouldn't hurt; it might give her a little bit more of a curious edge, and they'd already given her a lot of nutrients to help her brain grow strong. With any luck, her brain would need a lot of sugar to work well.
[82]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 14:21:58 GMT -6
The brain was an organ that required a lot of sugar in the diet. They'd learned that while studying, but hadn't really realized how much of it was really required until they had worked on the Tailypo. Those creatures were positively insatiable, which was good because they were great trash removal systems- and it was all because of that requirement from the brain. So if Morgan was right, and feeding this little creature quite a bit of the vitamins that they did was going to do what they hoped... She'd require a lot of sugar. Perhaps that was the direction they would go. Morgan stands the rest of the way up after digging through the snow to get at whatever it was that had nearly knocked them over, and they pulled out the large rock. They'd thought it was a brick, and for good reason. It was quite smooth and straight on its sides.
[83]
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Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 14:30:41 GMT -6
It was very obvious that the brick-rock was not anything special at all. It was mostly nondescript, save for the maker's mark on the bottom- which was a mass-produced one. They rolled their eyes after turning it over. "What was t-this doing out here?" They asked no one in particular. Whisper did poke her head up and out of their pocket again with a little chirrup-like noise. It was the oddest noise that the human had heard from it up to this point. "Well-well, are you talking to me?" Morgan asked her. Their voice was full of mirth. Of course the creature wasn't literally talking, but it was really cute (in their opinion) when one of their creatures made noises 'in reply' to them. Much to their absolute delight, Whisper reproduced the noise from just a moment ago because it seemed to make Morgan happy, and Morgan couldn't help but be pleased with it.
[84]
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