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Post by The Jenn on Oct 4, 2010 23:34:04 GMT -5
 Dressers were strange things. You never knew what you would unearth if you dug behind them. Especially when they belonged to other people. You might just find some hair. You might find old, discarded claw husks. Or dropped food. Or bug carcasses. Or mysterious bottles shaped like things with something rattling inside. Maybe she wasn't supposed to be in the room that used to belong to the old King, but something told Laika that everything was totally okay as soon as she found the bottle behind a dresser that had been moved for something. Lots of things in the room looked like they had been moved around. Half the things she sniffed made her sneeze, from dust if nothing else. But this was a real find. This was seriously cool. She grabbed it in her mouth and ran back to her room. Who would be there to share in this momentous discovery with her? Ark and Yuri? Excellent. She kicked the door closed as loudly as she had banged it open and pranced forward like she'd just won a contest. Then she spat the cat-shaped bottle on the rug and stared at her brothers. Pride radiated from every hairy pore. "I found something," she announced unnecessarily, waiting for their reactions.
Strange Bottle of Pills: This off little bottle is skillfully made from blown glass and has been twisted to resemble the head of a male Feline...how oddly pretty. Its cork is made of lead and is difficult to twist out of the mouth, but once you do, an odd tingle will spread throughout the opener's body. Inside are three strange looking pills, probably made by odd-ball Corvies...hmmm... These could even be dangerous, couldn't they?
1. The first pill is a bright red with lovely little pink swirls all over it, its shape is a neat oval and its surface is very smooth. When held, this pill seems warm to the touch and it smells faintly of...roses?
2. The second pill is a sickly looking off-orange color. Its rough and pitted exterior make it look a little lumpy too. Eew... This pill is a little sticky and gives off a tiny shock when held...it smells a little bit like old mustard.
3. The third pill is a nondescript grey color and is not quite a perfect circle. This pill seems perfectly normal and gives off a very barely noticeable hum when held close to the ear...it smells like dust.
Well! Who left these lying around? I wonder what they do? Each pill can either do something on its own, or something huge if used in combination together. PM the admin with who is using it and whether they're simply swallowing it, or if it is to be used in a breeding. |
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Post by Lucca on Oct 5, 2010 5:42:33 GMT -5
 As they'd gotten older, while Arkady's protective instincts for his sister hadn't diminished any, he did have a bit less of a need to dog her every step. That said, he'd still rather be with her than not, especially if Laika was indulging her curiosity or desire to explore. That day, though, the child had been busy with some reading for a class, and so had declined any invitation to go with her. Of course, that didn't mean at least half his mind wasn't worrying about her while she was gone, so as soon as he heard her slam the door (opened and closed, and it always rather surprised Ark just how loud Laika could be when she wanted to) his tail began wagging before he even looked up. When he did, and also registered what she was saying...his eyes widened and his tail stilled. He hopped to his over-large puppy feet and came over to sniff at the weirdly-shaped bottle uncertainly. Several questions ran through his mind, and, as usual, he took longer than most would have to voice any of them. " What is it?" he finally settled on, though he had a feeling she wouldn't know any better than he did. |
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Post by Bee on Oct 6, 2010 14:42:49 GMT -5
 Yuri stared blankly in response to his sister's sudden intrusion and announcement, continued to stare blankly as his brother investigated the bottle, and then gave a curious little twitch of his tail, smiled, and trotted over to join his sibling in investigation of the object. He had no idea where his sister had picked the thing up, but if Laika was the one to find it, it stood a more than decent chance of being some intriguing. "It's a bottle," Yuri supplied, helpfully, in answer to his brother's query. "It has a cork and everything. Shaped like a head. Looks like a kitty." And a head with all the fleshy bits intact, in point of fact, which was disappointing. He found the contour of a skull much more appealing. "Probably, it contains something." Pleased that he had stated all the obvious that was available to be stated, Yuri waited for his sister to add something more definite. |
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Post by The Jenn on Oct 10, 2010 20:54:28 GMT -5
The bottle smelled like a combination of dust and Laika's spit to Ark's sensitive nose. Not really anything remarkable. But it looked like something to be remarked on.
"Yuri wins that contest," she agreed with a cheeky grin, putting one paw on the bottle in a slightly possessive gesture. Definitely something in it. Something that rattles. Aaaaand... guess where I found it. In the old King's room. And he was a really serious mage. We might let out some sort of rattling magical spirit or something. Or maybe just some pain medication. I dunno. But in a bottle like this, probably not just something that boring. You put medicine in normal bottles unless you're an old lady with lots of container knick-knacks, and the King was a man."[/color][/b]
Her logic was questionable and she knew that, but she wanted to lull them into enough complacency to stay when she opened the thing. Because she was definitely opening it. Her curiousity would consume her alive if she didn't.
"So. I'm gonna open it. Will you guys stay? I'd really appreciate it. At the very least, you can run for help if something jumps out. Heh, like maybe the spirit of a Cat or something." That last ridiculous statement was said in a completely deadpan, serious tone. Then she burst into a quick, snorting giggle before pawing the thing upright and eyeing her brothers.
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Post by Lucca on Oct 10, 2010 21:30:24 GMT -5
Arkady sneezed a bit from the dust on the bottle. Oh, ew...and it was in Laika's mouth? He danced a bit on his paws, half wanting to tell his sister to go brush her teeth immediately, but in the past such suggestions had been met mainly with raised eyebrows and strange looks. He was a kid and he was supposed to get dirty, Ark knew, but...but he didn't like being dirty, or putting nasty things in his mouth.
Arkady frowned at Yuri. There was no need for him to get smart about it! He huffed out a half whimper, half dismissive sigh as Laika apparently elected Yuri the winner of some sort of game he wasn't aware he'd been playing. Of course, all that was pushed out of his mind as Laika told her story. His eyes widened. "You were WHERE?" He eyed the bottle with even more worry, now. Bernard had been a crazy mage, all right...who knew what could be in there? Some sort of spell or genie or...ugh. It gave him shivers.
"Of course," he said, even though he wanted to tell her she shouldn't open it at all. But he knew his sister, and he knew she was going to open that bottle, with or without them. And he'd rather be here when the inevitably bad thing happened. "I'll protect you if it's something bad." He was a King, after all! And it was his job as her brother.
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Post by Bee on Oct 14, 2010 22:32:56 GMT -5
The old King's room? Now there was a place to explore. Yuri doubted he would ever have gone in there on his own. It would not have occured to him to do so, even though in retrospect there would have to be a lot of interesting items in a scientist's room. The fossilized remains of their ancient precursors, perhaps. Or REALLY good candy.
He wasn't sure why Arkady frowned and made miffed noises at him--maybe he'd helped in the wrong way? He did that sometimes--but he was glad his brother was going to protect them from the contents of the bottle. Unless it instantly vaporized them, or aged them at superspeed until they crumbled to dust. Yuri was pretty sure there was no way to guard against those.
Though explicitly Arkady had only volunteered to protect their sister. This was somewhat worrisome, but he supposed that if anyone were to die, it rightfully probably should be him. He begrudged his brother nothing.
"I'll stay too!" he said, and prepared for his imminent vaporization.
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Post by The Jenn on Oct 19, 2010 8:12:01 GMT -5
Ark's exclamation caused Laika to grin widely, proud of the bravery she had obviously displayed and gratified by his reaction. Totally worth it, just for that. But then she actually found something! It was definitely worth a story later. "You guys are the best brothers ever," she responded cheerfully, tail wagging to hide the nervous twinges lurking beneath her excitement. Then, before she could chicken out in front of both of then, she held the bottle firmly between both paws and yanked the cork out with her teeth.
Or at least, she tried to yank it out. Then she tried a little chewing. Oww. More yanking, and some twisting, and some shoulder action in there to keep the darn thing in place. A solid few minutes of struggling - what was in this thing? - and it finally released with a 'pop!' noise.
She caught her breath at the strange, tingling chill that ran across her body, causing her mohawk to shiver along her spine and her ears to half-flatten. She waited eagerly to see what would happen, but no other reactions were forthcoming. Huh. "Do I look any different?" she asked doubtfully. Then she experimentally upended the bottle, to see if there had been anything inside to cause the rattle.
...oh! Yes, there was. Three little pills. The triple smells of roses, mustard, and dust lightly niggled their way into her nose, causing her to sneeze and blow one of the pills a few feet away.
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Post by Lucca on Oct 19, 2010 14:08:02 GMT -5
Arkady's tail wagged hesitantly in response, and he tried to smile, but it was strained. He still didn't think this was a very good idea. His ears flattened as Laika began to struggle to open the bottle...he was sure it was going to shatter all over and they'd all get glass in their eyes and it would be horrible and...he jumped a foot into the air as the cork finally flew off with a loud POP.
He anxiously looked over his sister, but...she looked the same. Relief flooded him and his tail wagged. "No," he said simply, running a paw through his own mohawk. But to Ark's surprise...part of him--a small part--was also a little disappointed that nothing had happened...until he noticed the pills and the strange smells coming from them. He wrinkled his nose and backed up a few steps, especially from the pill that went flying.
"Um. I don't think we should...um." The Coyote frowned down at the pills. They LOOKED harmless enough, but...but he knew that looks were sometimes deceiving.
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Post by Bee on Oct 22, 2010 20:41:48 GMT -5
The good news was that none of them had been summarily wiped from this plane of existence. Yuri hadn't been aware that he was closing his eyes as his sister struggled with the bottle until they snapped open to see both his siblings still intact; his sister, to her apparent disappointment, looking no different; and a few pills before them. He looked at them curiously.
"I don't think we should feed them to the bandersnatches either," Yuri finished for his brother, running on the assumption that Arkady wanted to spare some of the extent fauna running around the Court of Hearts the potential trauma of ingesting an unknown substance. "We should eat them ourselves."
There were a number of other solutions, of course, most of which involved turning the pills over to adults and never seeing them again, but he was surprised at how disappointed he was that nothing had been vaporized. He wanted something to happen. And now that the bottle itself had given them nothing, there were only the contents left.
And the pills did, after all, look more or less innocuous, even the one that smelled like mustard.
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Post by The Jenn on Oct 28, 2010 8:31:24 GMT -5
Oh, Yuri, you wonderful brother. Laika gave him a tongue-lolling grin while turning to Ark. The tongue slipped back inside and she nodded with a suddenly solemn air. "You're right, of course," she directed to the pure Solandrian but addressing both of them. "It would almost be a crime to feed these to Banders instead of eating them ourselves. After all. These are sort of a palace legacy for us. The old King obviously left them for someone to find. Someone brave, and smart, and curious enough to look for them. So he probably left them for kids. So they're probably okay for us to eat. Maybe he even knew I'd be looking and left them specifically for us."
She was reaching so far now, there was no going back. The tenuous thread of her story practically demanded that she follow through on her words. She would never be able to live with herself if she didn't do this.
And not only did she have to do this, but because she was the one prompting them, she had to eat the nastiest one. Her nose wrinkled a little, but... well, she liked mustard okay. Even if it was lumpy and orange. "I'll take this one," she said with a brave grimace and nudged the orange pill nearer. It gave her a tiny little shock and she yelped in surprise, staring at it with a newfound curiosity and respect.
The bright red pill had rolled nearer to Yuri, almost as a sign. The dusty gray pill sat in front of her, just waiting for Ark.
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