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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jul 2, 2010 1:16:18 GMT -5
They had learned some time ago that, while the borders of the Wood were safe, it was wise not to step too far inside. While the shelter of the trees seemed promising, at first glance, there were dangers inside that were worse. Worse, even, than the Bad Place. Sometimes, the girl wondered if the Bad Place was inside of the Wood, for all the terrible things that happened there. No, they would not go through it. If one of them got hurt, they would all suffer for it. All the same, sometimes Cat forgot these things. It came with the territory of sometimes simply not remembering where she was, and when nothing looked familiar, everything begged to be explored. Her feet took her to the boundaries of the Wood where the trees were beginning to get thick and tall, far taller than they were anywhere else. She wavered on her feet as she took in her surroundings. To anyone watching, she would seem fearless. Only four years of age, and already edging around one of the most dangerous places as if it was nothing of consequence. It wasn't, in her mind, not today. Today, it was dark and interesting, even if there was a haze around it that her eyes couldn't penetrate. The girl stepped into the comfort of the trees, sniffing at the air, her mouth opened slightly to better taste the smells surrounding her. The Wood had a lovely scent to it, she thought dreamily. It smelled like food - and she was hungry. Her ears rose, and she glanced around. Her brothers. No, she couldn't go in without them. Eerily blank eyes scanned the area, and a small frown twisted her maw. Where had they gone? " Hallo? Haaaalll~oooo..." Perhaps they were hiding. They must have been. She didn't want to go any further without them - it was safer if they moved in a group. " Capan? Caaaaaaal? Fi? Where'd'a go?" Hmn. This was concerning. Perhaps she'd simply misplaced them, for the time being. Dream-worlds were tricksy like that. |
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Post by seraaches on Jul 2, 2010 1:41:50 GMT -5
Herelies Captain Underwood pricked his hears curiously towards his sister; he was, after all, standing right here next to her. They flicked back, however, when she called him 'Capan'. "Name not 'Capan'," he complained, rolling upright and pouting at her for a moment. He rose and stretched, digging claws into the dirt, before giving himself a good shake. "Name Herelies Capan Underwode. Say'i right!" This was a fairly major concern for him, actually. How would his special Someone find him if Cat wouldn't even call him by the right name? He flicked his tail unhappily as he looked around. He didn't really like the Tulgey Woods. They made him feel funny. Not the good funny, like the warm fuzzy feeling he got when he ate kittens. It was a chilling feeling that crawled up and down his spine. |
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Post by Harpsdesire on Jul 2, 2010 10:47:18 GMT -5
 Not far off, Calamity was pacing. It was clear to him even at this tender age that something was missing in his life. It just wasn't clear exactly what 'something' was. Food, he decided, probably food. Meat. It was the only good thing that ever happened in the Bad Place. There might be meat in the Wood there, or there might be something that thought he was meat. Or both. Yes, both, he thought with a twinge of regret for the meat that he was never to consume. He stopped his musing at the sound of his sister's plaintive call, and the following complaint of 'Herlies Capan Unnerwode'. "Why'joo need-haveta pick someting so looong?" He complained in response, but there was a slight smile at the corners of his beak-- Cal was teasing his brother. He walked up to Cat and bumped against her gently; the contact was reassuring for himself and his sister both. She seemed reasonably lucid at the moment, which was good: they needed to make a plan. What they were planning for, he wasn't sure, but it was always better to have a plan than to not have a plan. Hey, maybe they could make a plan for getting meat! Yes, he would plan on it. |
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Post by Esfiel on Jul 2, 2010 17:42:53 GMT -5
Fiasco had been sleeping until he started to hear the loud noises of his siblings talking. It appearing the time was sleeping was over, so he crawled to his feet and covered the small distance between him and his siblings, but what was all this talk about names? This was precisely why he hadn't wanted to pick his name. One minute a name seemed brilliant and the next it was horrible. He'd almost just picked multiple names depending on what he liked at the time, but it was easier just to have one. That was why he'd just picked a name similar to that of his sister and brother. Herelies Captain Underwood, however, hadn't picked a simple name, and he was compelled to agree with Cal. They'd all picked easy names and still no one wanted to say them all the way out. Why did Herelies want them to? "Caan't we call ya somethin' fer short?" he complained. That's what Cat did and Cal did and apparently what he did judging by what Cat had called him. Using Herelies' full name was going to confuse him and take some time to get used to so he'd rather just ignore it until he absolutely had to. |
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jul 3, 2010 0:47:57 GMT -5
How odd. There they were, right there beside her. Her pale eyes narrowed and her ears panned back, the tufts curling downwards. At least they all seemed perfectly solid and normal, now that she'd noticed them. Not like the rest of their surroundings. The way the trees seemed to be stretching their arms up and up and up was just surreal, and she had to fight to keep from just staring up into their expanses. Her brothers might not approve of that.
Cat's attention swung to Herelies Captain Underwood, and she just stared at him for a long time. "'s too much. Fills up my mouf," just a hint of a complaint crept into her tone. The rest of them had indeed picked shorter names, though the fact that she even had a name was still a bit of a shock. They'd gone so long without it, it just hadn't seemed so important... But Cal had been so pleased with the names he'd found them, and she did ever so like the sound of hers. Cat. Catastrophe, even if that was a little difficult for her uncoordinated tongue and vocal cords. So odd, so hers. She even liked Herelies's name, it was just too much to say all at once.
The sudden invasion of Cal's form into her space distracted her for a moment, and a stuttering little purr rose from within her. What a strange sound, that purr was! It brought a little smile to her mouth, the edges of her lips separating just enough to show teeth. "Maybe Hereli? 'sides, Capan, I'm sure that Someone'll know you even wifout'cher name. He did save us, righ'?" That was the story, at least, and she didn't see any reason it couldn't be plausible. A sudden growl came up from her stomach, and Cat yelped, doing a little hop-skip back.
Right! She had smelled the smell. "I smells meat in there,"
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Post by seraaches on Jul 3, 2010 20:52:24 GMT -5
"I red it," the Eight told his brother firmly. If anyone should understand that importance, it was Cal. "'Sides, mine'ta only real name. Yours i'book word." That should show Calamity. But, even on the heels of that thought, came a brief surge of panic. He couldn't push Cal away; they all had to stay together. So he moved closer to his brother and touched his beak to the Jack's almost apologetically.
The child turned at his other brother's complaint, and frowned. "M'Someone ha'to know i'me," Hereli began to fret. His ears pricked towards their sister, however, when she offered her solution. "I guess'tho," he murmured, obviously uncertain. "But i'diffrint out here. Hard to get messages." In fact, besides the kitten leading him to his secret admirer's name, he really hadn't heard anything from his special Someone. It made him angry, though he tried to keep it tamped down near his siblings. He didn't want them to be jealous when he certainly had enough love for all of them.
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Post by Harpsdesire on Jul 8, 2010 13:21:05 GMT -5
"Oh, well. Reddit, then." Cal nodded, considering this. It seemed a reasonable enough answer to him. He didn't take offense at his brother's next statement, focusing on the sentence he liked more than the one he didn't. "Bookwords is some real good words, good names." He said agreeably, as if this was the point Herelies was traying to make, rather than the very opposite.
He had always been strange when it came to books, and being stuck out here in the big scary wherever with no books at all was deeply unsettling. At least his brother's gentle touch and sister's purr were familiar and comforting. In a moment of both charity and resignation, he told Herlies, "Imma just speak-say it all fast like: Hereliescapanunnerwood. Just in case." The child nodded to himself, satisfied with this solution.
He might have said more, but for Cat's voice. "Meat smell?" He lifted his beak in the direction she was looking and sniffed deeply. "I like meat smells. Hungry, too. We needsa plan to get the meat." Mmmm, meat plan. The best kind of plan.
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Post by Esfiel on Jul 8, 2010 16:16:43 GMT -5
"Al'ight, I'll learn ta say all-o' it," Fiasco surrendered, but he'd practice as it needed to be said. Until then he'd focus on where the conversation was turning, an that was towards meat. At the thought of it his stomach growled, reminding him that he was hungry. For a moment the talk about names had distracted him from that fact.
"Do we needa plan?" he asked. "Can'ta we just go in 'n' kill somethin'?" He just wanted to ask and not plan out all their moves before they did it. He didn't want to forget any parts of the plan if they had one, and depending on how much stuff needed to be done would determine how much he'd remember.
If they wanted a plan, though, he would follow it so long as he didn't have to help all that much to come up with it. Let the people who liked plans and were good at them come up with it.
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jul 13, 2010 0:40:53 GMT -5
The conversation of words and not-names and book-words went right over Cat's head. She was too distracted by her hunger, and by the smell of meat. The hunger was the worst of it, though. How long had it been since they'd found food? Good food - not just scraps off of the picked bones of something that had become food for the Jubs. The Bad Place had fed them, and it must have been good... Though still, there was that hunger in her memory.
That hunger made her uncomfortable. While her brothers talked, Cat rose and wandered to the edge of the Wood once more, staring into the darkness. "Meat-smell," she repeated, though her voice was softer now, as if she was speaking to herself more than to the others around her. Her eyes closed as she considered the smell, combining the smell-pictures with Fiasco's words. "...No. Dead-smell. Meat's already dead."
Then she opened her eyes again, that dreamy expression appearing on her face. She didn't say anything else, just trotted into the Tulgey Wood without another thought, pausing occasionally to verify where the smell was coming from. She was hungry.
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