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Post by Morgan on Dec 31, 2021 21:30:00 GMT -6
The pair of them are soon safe and sound (for now) in the sitting room (perhaps it was more a foyer most of the time) of the mansion. Morgan glanced around, though they were not at all surprised that this place was much different than any other time that they had seen it. Still, there was a nice comfortable place by the window that was big enough for them to even lay down if they wanted, and a shorter ledge that would obviously fit Kaodie. There was also a place on the mantle for hot chocolate drinks of all sorts, and a nice coffee table with several books. Across the way was a working fireplace- and across the carpet from this was a large fir tree with fancy decorations. There were most certainly gifts beneath the tree, and they were sorely tempted by these. Kaodie looked like he was going to explode- just looking at all of the extra shiny wrapping paper. He loved shiny things!
[100 - Counting level here, Self!]
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Post by Morgan on Jan 2, 2022 0:59:54 GMT -6
[ Note to make rolling easier; I don't think I've been rolled for December from Here to There Yet. I'm restarting my count for January from this point on.] It hadn't taken long for Morgan to find somewhere to whip out the old sleeping bag that they carried in their backpack to sleep. Kaodie had decided that he was going to sleep curled up behind Morgan's ankles (the bespectacled human tended to sleep on their side and all curled up in the fetal position). Perhaps a less... Ridiculous person would have thought twice about sleeping in a strange and known to be dangerous place, but Morgan was certain that if they didn't wake up over danger, Kaodie probably would wake them up. They did take their glasses off for comfort and they laid them carefully in their labcoat's pocket before using the labcoat as a blanket over the top of the sleeping bag. Morgan was generally not a very good sleeper, especially not in a strange place. They laid awake for hours, staring at the fireplace (which was very cozy) before turning their back on it and watching the snow out the window instead...
They didn't even notice really when they finally did fall asleep, Kaodie's comforting shape nearby.[1 - January] |
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Post by Morgan on Jan 2, 2022 16:20:49 GMT -6
The last time that Morgan had tried to stay overnight on the turn-o-month date at the mansion, they had been with a dragon oak of theirs, and both of them had gotten quite ill from the strange effects of the mansion. Morgan really hadn't been able to keep theirself from wanting to test it out again (did this happen every time? was it only something that happened to them? was it a mechanical or magical effect? could medicine and predicting it help?) so they decided to keep a small notepad in their labcoat pocket and also take some medicine for motion sickness in preparation (they assumed that it had to do with spatial distortion of some kind, since that was really the only lead they had- so hopefully the sickness medicine would help).
Morgan wakes up feeling surprisingly well rested, with Kaodie up and about already, standing stark still over the top of them and looking surprised.
[2]
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Post by Morgan on Jan 2, 2022 16:26:06 GMT -6
The first thing that Morgan thought was 'thank goodness, the medicine worked' and it was followed closely by- 'but wait Kaodie doesn't seem to have been sick either'. Kaodie was... Well, he was something else, but they had fully expected him to get sick. The mansion had definitely changed over while they were asleep, that wasn't the cause (or rather, lack of cause) of it. Morgan squints and places their hand down a couple of times until they found their glasses, and then they put them on so that they could see better (the world had been blurry, but most certainly different- even the smell of it was different). Just the night before, Morgan had fallen asleep in their sleeping bag in the middle of the main sitting room across the room from a nice warm hearth, a decorated holiday tree with presents beneath it, and some fairly standard looking decorations (at least they were standard in their view; they were actually fairly grandiose).
[3]
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Post by Morgan on Jan 2, 2022 16:48:02 GMT -6
This morning, everything was completely different. The area had a familiar 'empty' sort of sensation to it, in that way that one feels whenever they are in any sort of building commonly used for something benign during the day but after dark loomed half-lit and completely abandoned. The sensation is identical to that, Morgan decides- though they know that the so-called Eccentric's Mansion was nothing at all like a simple Centre of the Arts or Town Hall. The ceilings were suddenly high and soaring, crossed with dark metallic holding structures straight out of a gothic mansion. The room was bathed in purple and blue light cast from absolutely huge stained glass windows... The light almost seemed to move, but Morgan could never catch it squarely in their vision to move. Kaodie seemed to notice it too, he turned his head quickly and chased after them, pouncing them playfully and without any mastery.
[4]
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Post by Morgan on Jan 2, 2022 17:54:08 GMT -6
Just as soon as Kaodie had pounced on top of one of the scattered lights cast on the floor, he'd look very disappointed (one cannot really catch light, can they?) and then immediately go after another. Morgan shook their head at him, but took stock of the black and white (almost like a chessboard) checkered floors. They had one hand placed on the cold hard tile theirself, and it served to make the place feel even emptier to them. It only takes them a moment to gather their things and put them back into their backpack while also shrugging their labcoat on (it takes them a moment to get the labcoat completely on).
"C-c'mon Kaodie." Morgan said, voice a little loud and echoing multiple times across the huge and mostly empty room. "We might as w-well do some exploring before we head home." What time was it anyway? Morgan checks their WATT momentarily while the little malii catches up to them.
[5]
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Post by Morgan on Jan 3, 2022 0:26:58 GMT -6
With such an uneventful morning, Morgan tried not to feel distinctly let down. Perhaps the issue before had been that they had stayed up instead of going to sleep? Nothing that couldn't be replicated was of any scientific use. A Curiosity of best. They considered this issue as they passed a relatively clear panel of stained glass which they could look out of, and they turned around (Kaodie nearly bumped into their leg with the quick stop and retreat) so that they could look outside. Every time they saw this sight, it was even better. The grass outside looked as if it could have been made up of pliable crystal that swayed in the wind as opposed to any natural grass. There were great spires of ice beneath a swirling sky of glorious stars. For a moment, they simply stand there. Kaodie looks up at them with his head tilted, very curious as to what they were looking so intently at.
[6]
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Post by Morgan on Jan 3, 2022 20:45:14 GMT -6
Kaodie was fairly short. Juvie malii were not well known for being very big to begin with (and most of them were 'leg') and he'd come to Morgan 'preshrunk' so to speak. He squints, trying to figure out what Morgan was looking at, so far up there, and whenever Morgan didn't seem to be paying any attention to him and seemed to be looking really far off, he huffs and sticks his tongue out- sticking it to the flat clear surface in front of Morgan quite expertly. As soon as the tongue sticks, he tries to pull it back in; enough to be able to pull himself up. Morgan was looking at him quite squarely by the time that he lifted himself up.
"...you've been doing this at home, haven't you?" This explained SO MUCH! Morgan could remember how Kaodie always seemed to be able to get up and onto the fridge to get his food! This was probably how!
[7]
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Post by Morgan on Jan 4, 2022 15:55:51 GMT -6
Morgan looked at Kaodie with a mockingly accusational expression, and Kaodie simply scrabbles up and onto the ledge before removing his tongue from the glass (with great difficulty). The bespectacled human could not help but shake their head at him. "You are a-absolutely just a mess." Their voice is held soft and low, but it still manages to travel and echo in the mostly empty space. Now that the metaphorical spell has been broken, they no longer really feel the need to take in just how beautiful it was outside on the mansion grounds. They reach out to scoop up the mischievous malii and bring him to their chest. He was even light enough that Morgan didn't really have any trouble holding onto him. He mostly goes limp in Morgan's arms after he realizes that he's been picked up (he doesn't seem to react to physical stimuli at all, Morgan had noted that a long time ago).
[8]
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Post by Morgan on Jan 4, 2022 16:12:57 GMT -6
At that, Morgan turns back the direction that they had been walking in and they begin to walk in that direction again. Morgan was planning on getting a little bit of adventuring done before working with Kaodie on a couple of behaviors they wanted to teach him to do. They had a few items folded up in their pockets to facilitate this; including a pair of critter pockets that would only just fit him. They figured that it would be possible to teach him this while they started exploring. They carefully put him onto the ground (though honestly they could probably just straight up throw him on the ground and it probably wouldn't do much to him physically) and then they dig around in their pockets until they find the desired object.
"Here you go, Kaodie. P-put this on." They said, bending down and unfolding it before fitting it onto Kaodie. He already knew how to wear a harness, so this part was easy.
[9] - [Start 'Carry Load']
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Post by Morgan on Jan 4, 2022 16:28:24 GMT -6
Kaodie takes to the critter packs like a champ; but of course this is before Morgan puts anything in it that might be heavy for him. "D-did I even bring anything heavy?" Morgan asks theirself, as they shift through their labcoat pockets. Finally, they pull out a few different items of about medium weight (at least they thought it was, compared to Kaodie's body size). They opened up the pockets and fit all of the items they could in them. Kaodie... Barely seemed to notice the weight. Of course, that made sense. He really didn't feel physical stimuli. Morgan busts out laughing when he just takes off, though his balance Does seem a little bit off. "Goodness. W-what was I expecting?" They figured that they'd give him time to get his sea-legs, at least. Remove the weight, put it back on, put on different amounts of weight... That should do it, regardless of his physical nature.
[10]
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Post by Ashe on Jan 4, 2022 22:02:19 GMT -6
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Post by Morgan on Jan 5, 2022 21:49:12 GMT -6
They took some time to try to explore a bit and allow Kaodie to get used to the weight of the critter packs. The mansion looked somewhat similar to what they remembered it looking like the last time they'd managed to visit in the first month of the year. In addition to the flying buttresses and sweeping ceilings that they had noted before (and the black and white checkerboard pattern tiling that appeared to be made up out of different colored granite), that all of the grand detailing was done in ebony and ivory shades. Every pillar was pale cream-white swirled- as if someone had poured rock into that position, and they were ultra smooth and shiny in a way that was spectacular. All of the wood detailing on the walls and shelves were of the darkest lacquered wood that they had seen.
The entire time that they were looking at these as they went down what felt like an infinitely long but broad hallway, Kaodie was waddling under the weight of the critter packs. He was slowly learning how to compensate between the weight and his prosthetic hind leg, but it was hard!
[11]
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Post by Morgan on Jan 5, 2022 21:58:21 GMT -6
Kaodie always had a little bit of a hard time on hard surfaces as compared to other sorts of surfaces. His natural body texture made him somewhat 'sticky' when he touched things, especially on his paw pads, so he was used to lifting his legs in a certain sort of way to help him sort of get 'unstuck' with each step. It wasn't as strong as his tongue of course, but it was a problem when on surfaces that seemed to be smooth enough for it to work in its annoying and limited sort of way. He was used to this, and he was even used to his hind leg, the one with the slicker texture- but each time that he had to have one re-adjusted he had more and more of a hard time walking on it.
He'd just began to get used to this prosthetic when Morgan had placed the weight on him, so now he was practically back a few squares. He worked hard though- he really wanted to please his human!
[12]
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Post by Morgan on Jan 5, 2022 22:14:01 GMT -6
Morgan was sure to keep an eye on the malii as he struggled. It was not too much weight, no, they'd be able to tell if it was. This was instead something to do with his gait. "Y-you gonna be okay there, bud?" Morgan asks him, their tone coming across to the malii more than their words of course. The tone was encouraging and a little bit concerned, and the malii wags his tail twice in response, working harder to catch up with them. Morgan slowed down a little, shortening their gait a tad, so that he could catch back up. "You'll get it, fella, I'm sure." They really were sure of it. Kaodie worked harder, straining a little against one side for a while as they walked down the endlessly stretching hallway. Each time that Morgan passed one of the windows, they saw the exact same view at the exact same angle every single time.
[13]
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