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 Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:26 am
Quote: The humidity was really starting to get to Skutt, and she could barely contain a cry of joy at the sight of a village, still a distance away. "Oh, I bet they have showers there," she whispered in delight. The place did look primitive, but hey, every town or city she'd been to before had had some sort of hotel, and Sarabi was past the point of caring how sleazy it was.
The grime, sweat, and other gods-knew-what substances dripping off of her skin felt like they'd become a part of her, and she didn't much like the feeling. She wanted some soap and water, badly. She glanced at Deonte, who was off poking around in a pile of leaves and twigs. He could probably use a bath too, though he seemed to be doing better than her, probably due to his splashing in every puddle they'd passed, no matter how small or filthy.
Tiring of the wet leaves and crackling twigs within moments, Deonte scampered back to his mother, squeaking as he reared, and placed his forepaws on her leg. He butted his head forcefully against her boots, then dashed away again, towards the town.
Turning, he made a chirruping sound at Skutt, and when she finally caught on and started following, turned and continued his odd, head and tail-swinging gait. He was truly built more for swimming than for running, but had not yet attempted the former.
Upon finally reaching the village, Skutt seized Deonte, wary of the interested looks and mutters they were receiving from some of the natives that crowded the streets.
She spotted a small building that read "Inn" on a wooden sign, and made a beeline for it, cuddling her protesting sea mink close. She passed over some American money to the innkeeper, who seemed satisfied, and showed them to a tidy room, sparcely furnished, but with a home-like quality to it.
The furniture consisted of a bed, a small desk with chair, and a lamp, which provided the only lighting, other than the small window. The innkeeper had mentioned a public shower though, and Skutt truly didn't care if some pervert spyed on her. She was finally going to get clean.
"Now you stay here, and I'm going to go take a bath," she told the inattentive Boundless, who was curently crawling around under the bed's covers. She sighed. "And when I get back, you get a bath too." She truly doubted that Deonte had payed attention to a word she'd said, but figured that he wouldn't be leaving the room anyway, since he was still far too small to open a human-sized door. Shaking her head in exasperation, she left to find the innkeeper.November 30th
Finally got to that village, whose name escapes me at the moment. We've checked in at a local inn, and I finally got a shower. Deonte's getting a bath soon too. Tomorrow we'll start exploring the shops, and talking to some of the natives.
~Skutt
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:28 am
Quote: Deonte stared up at his mother, bright golden eyes blinking rapidly to clear the soapsuds. He was unsure how to handle being forcefully washed, especially with the strange water Sarabi called "soap". It made pretty bubbles, but smelled odd.
He sneezed as said bubbles were accidently inhaled, then snapped playfully at the flurry of foam his sneeze had sent flying. Squeaking, he dove under the water as Skutt held up a soap-smelling bottle, rising only so that the top of his head showed, much like a small, brown crocodile.
"Deonte," Skutt sighed in exasperation, waiting for him to surface again. She needed to soap up his fur, and he was having far too much fun in the small wooden bucket she was bathing him in.
Her sleeves were rolled up, and a borrowed apron covered the jeans and T Shirt that were the only clothes she had brought along. A green bandana held her hair back in place of the usual black one, and she was covered with water and soapsuds.
After taking her own bath, she'd returned to the room to find Deonte entirely dust-covered, a grey spector of his usual brown-furred self. She suspected it was from exploring under the bed, which she'd looked under herself before almost suffocating from the profusion of dust-bunnies, which she'd been too tired to deal with that night, and so had waited until morning.
She'd then enlisted the ever-patient innkeeper (a kind, middle-aged native who ran the inn with his wife and daughter) for some soap and a bucket of warm water, which she'd dumped her Boundless in without ceremony.
Deonte had proved less than cooperative unfortunately, and seemed to think that the whole thing was game. Shaking her head, she turned back to the task at hand.
...
An hour later, Deonte was sleek and shiny, his rich fur a gorgeous shade of dark golden-brown. Skutt in comparison was sweaty and dishelved, but determined to continue with the day, and her plans to find some gift for her Boundless to remember her by, especially since once he reached childhood, she'd likely be returning to her apartment, and Sirius, Eri, and 'Quay.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:31 am
Quote: December 2nd This will probably be the longest journal entry I ever make in this thing, so enjoy it while it lasts. Yesterday Deonte and I went to explore the village for the first time, after I'd bathed him, which was an ordeal in itself. I think Deonte had fun though, so at least one of us enjoyed the experience.
When we left the Inn, I was praying that the local native would accept American money as payment for whatever we decided to purchase. We wandered the dusty streets, me keeping a close eye on Deonte, who didn't want to be carried and preferred to waddle along beside me. He was nearly stepped on multiple times, and by the time we entered a cheerily lit gift shop, I was a nervous wreck.
I picked him up then, so that he could see into the displays, which were set on cloth-covered wooden tables. There were objects like leather-hilted knives, beaded earings, and painted flutes carved from driftwood.
One object in particular caught my attention, and this was a necklace created of three shells on a leather string. The center shell was the classic seashell shape, and a smooth cream-color. The two smaller shells on either side were round and beadlike, and each was pale pink. These were set about 2 inches from the middle shell, which hung at the bottom.
Somehow, it seemed perfect for Deonte, though I can't really explain how. Maybe "seashell" and "sea mink" connected in my brain at the time, or something. Anyway, the store owner was very kind, and agreed to accept a five-dollar bill as payment.
I let Deonte examine his gift, and he immediately seized it between his two sharp little canines and began to gnaw the leather. Luckily it was tough enough not to snap, but that was enough for me to decide to withhold this gift until my Boundless is older.
Deonte is already asleep, so I guess I'll leave off here and join him, since we need to wake up bright and early tomorrow to start the return journey.
~Skutt
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:35 am
Quote: The journey had been fun, and all, but Deonte was starting to get a bit bored with the whole thing. He vaguely remembered the large building they had been living in previous to setting out, and also subconsciously knew that there were other Boundless there to play with, though he had had only limited interaction at best with them, when he had been a fetus.
Skutt was currently out scavenging for food, as they'd exhausted their supplies. She didn't really seem to know what she was doing as far as traveling in general went, so it was really not very surprising that she'd underpacked their food. Deonte however, was blissfully unaware of all this, and had spent the morning digging up clams from the many tidepools along the beach. He hadn't quite got the hang of opening them up (though he hadn't really tried), and had instead left the unharmed clams in a more or less neat pile near the tent.
Carrying them in his mouth to the pile was almost as much fun as digging them up, so his day was already going considerably well. He had seen a few more of those small red crabs, but had learned his lesson from the first encounter, and kept well away from their alarmingly big pincers. Often he also happened upon beetles and other small insects scurrying along the wet sand,leaving intricate trails of tiny footprints. These he crunched up, rather enamoured with their unique, slightly bitter taste and tantalizing crispness.
Thus he spent the hours of Skutt's absense, until she returned at late noon.
Exhausted and sweating, Skutt dragged her aching body back to camp, her hands scratched and a bandana tied full of supposedly edible roots. Even though her jungle "Guidebook of Edible Flora and Fungi" had reccommended all of the various brown objects, she had her doubts, as some of them were ugly enough to make a person avert their eyes, let alone digest them.
But this was what happened when you left unprepared for a long journey, she realized, and longingly thought of back home, where she often made nightly runs to the supermarket for luxuries like Top Ramen and Mountain Dew. Such fantasies did not fill her complaining stomach however, and sighing, she tracked across the sand to their tent, and halted in surprise.
There, lying neatly in the sand as though delivered just for her, was a pile of clams, shells still cool, and glistening with seawater. She gaped in confusion, wondering for one crazy moment if miracles really did happen (and odd ones at that), when Deonte came rushing happily up to her, squeaking proudly as he deposited another clam at her feet.
Laughing aloud as he watched eagerly for her approval, she bent, and rubbed his head affectionately. "Well done," she said gratefully, eyeing the clams with visions of an aromatic stew dancing through her mind. "This'll make for a lovely meal." Scooping up their cooking pot in one hand, she stood, and walked to the water's edge, filling it with seawater. She then placed it directly on the fire, and paused, pondering the clams. Finally shrugging, she tossed them directly into the now-boiling water, fairly certain that they would open on their own once cooked, or would at least be more easily opened once dead.
Almost as an afterthought, she tossed the roots in too, figuring it couldn't hurt, and might even improve the mixture (though she rather doubted it). Oh well, even if both of them got food poisoning, at least they'd be back at the mansion by tomorrow evening at the latest.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:40 am
Quote: Thoroughly exhausted, Skutt flopped down onto her bed in the mansion, ignoring Deonte's protesting grunt as he was dropped unceremoniously onto an extra pillow. She cuddled into the soft, clean blankets, and inwardly vowed never to venture outside again.
The journey had been long, arduous, tedious, and mostly unproductive, except for the shell necklace she'd acquired for Deonte. And she wasn't even sure as to whether that had been worth it either. Deonte was a boy, so would he even want a necklace? Maybe she should've gotten him sharp that he could damage things with, boys seemed to like things like that....
Sighing, she turned and burrowed her face into the pillows, dropping into sleep almost instantly.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:42 am
Quote: Skutt woke up slowly, savoring the soft, clean blankets and sheets against her skin. It was then that she remembered that Deonte was dirty again from their trip (despite his bath before their departure from the village). Uncertainly she lifted her head, unwilling to see muddy pawprints marring the soft whiteness of her little corner of heaven.
What she saw instead, were little, muddy pawprints leading in a wobbling trail out the open door. "Oh." She paused, mind working haltingly after hours of comatose sleep. "Uh." She sat up, and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, sitting there for a good five minutes as she slowly made the connection.
"He's...out of the room." Standing, she padded barefoot out into the hall, still far too dream-laden to panic much.
The pawprints led her to the stairs, and there became smeared, as though her little sea mink had fallen down them, rather than climbed. Somehow, she thought that might have been it.
Following the prints, she stepped into the kitchen, which was silent and chilly. She shivered, and blearily began searching the cupboards and under the counters; all the little corners a small musteline could hide in.
Finally, she came upon a little brown ball of fur hunched over a waffle, predator-like; a pair of shining black eyes reflecting back at her from the shadow of the table he was under. Shaking her head, mildly disturbed, she reached for him, ignored his squeak of irritation, and carried him back to their room.
...
Fetuses couldn't taste things, could they?
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:44 am
Quote: It was sometime after midnight, probably around three or four; otherwise Skutt wouldn't have been asleep. But she slumbered now, head covered by a pillow, one arm curled around the spot that Deonte had been.
Ninja-like, Deonte had crawled from Skutt's embrace, and now scuttled around the room searching for something interesting to do. The door was closed, he wasn't tired enough to sleep, and he knew from experience that Skutti wouldn't play with him if she was sleeping.
So. He explored. Under the bed, which was dusty and had many interesting scents. He spent a good deal of time there, collecting most of the dust on whiskers and face, it seemed to him. But he didn't care; in fact, he liked being dirty, though he knew that Skutt didn't approve.
Out from under the bed, he waddled over to the desk and chair next to one of the room's semi-large windows. Pausing, he sat up and pondered how he was to get up there, finally settling on climbing the chair, and then onto the desk.
He stood unsteadily on his hindpaws, and placed his forepaws on the wobbly chair. Believing that the faster he did this, the more successful he would be, he then hauled himself up onto the edge of the chair. The only problem with his plan, however, was that the chair simply could not support a solid little sea mink like himself, and toppled immediately as he perched unevenly on one side.
The resulting crash was loud, but Skutt just grunted and rolled over, burrowing deeper into the pillows. Deonte had not really been worried about her waking up, but at least he could continue to explore the room uninterrupted now.
Squeaking softly to himself, he climbed up and over the chair (rather than going around it), and stopped dead in his tracks. There before him, was an enormous, brown spider.
It had frozen instinctively, but Deonte saw it anyway, and walked up to it curiously. It looked very much like the red crab that had pinched his nose, which made him wary, but is was disimilar enough that he was more fascinated than alarmed.
Cautiously he reached out a paw and patted the spider, which instantly sprang into action and raced for safety under the rug. Delighted, Deonte gave chase, pouncing on the spider, then looking around in comic confusion.
Where had it gone? He lay there for a good ten minutes before losing interest and wandering away. He left behind a crumpled, curled spider-corpse, which Skutt later found and screamed when she saw.
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Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2006 11:45 am
Quote: Deonte's fur was getting out of hand.
Dusty, sticky, and too-long was what it was, and Skutt suspected this was because, as a water-mammal, Deonte relied on swimming to clean his pelt rather than doing it himself.
So she decided to take a trip to the seashore with Deonte in tow. She packed a nice lunch for them, full of sandwhiches for her, and a bottle of milk with some crabmeat she had found in the refridgerator for Deonte. Good times.
They took about a half hour walk down to the shoreline, then Sarabi set out the blanket with the food on it. Deonte seemed reluctant to go near the water just now, so she picked him up and set him (squealing in protest) in the surf.
The water was big, and scary. The waves were big today, and Deonte feared being swept away into the horrible, dark water. But Sarabi had put him here, and wouldn't let him eat until he swam some.
So cautiously, he padded out a foot or two, well away from the point where the waves might rise above his head. Digging his paws into the sand, he braced himself and let the water gush over and between his paws. This wasn't so bad.
Wandering out a little further, he suddenly saw a wave coming towards him and squeaked in surprise. Waddling as fast as he could, he was still overtaken by the mini-tsunami, which picked him up and carried him onto the sand, where he lay shivering.
Miserably, he crawled back to Skutt, who was trying to stifle a smile of amusement. The crabmeat she offered cheered him up some, but he wouldn't go near the water for the rest of the afternoon.
Shaking her head, Skutt packed up and picked up Deonte. She'd just have to give him a bath when they got home.
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Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 8:49 pm
Quote: Skutt could not find her bra. This was an awkward situation, to say the least. She knew there were some male guardians staying at the mansion, but would any of them be perverse enough to...? Making a face, she shook her head. Of course, it might have been wise to bring more than one on this trip, but it was rather too late now. Deonte was off in the corner playing with something
Deonte chirruped softly to himself, absorbed in a new game. He had one of Skutt's soft bits of cloth in his mouth, and was busy trying to pull it with him under the bureau. Unfortunately, the thing kept snagging and changing shape as he tugged. Frustrated, he squeaked loudly and yanked as hard as he could. With an audible "snap" the thing fell apart, leaving parts behind as it joined him under the dresser.
"What was that?"
Confused, Skutt glanced in the direction of the sound. "Why you little-!" She glared ferociously at the little brown head that peered up at her. Beside him lay the ruins of her bra. "Deonte..." she said despairingly, flopping down on the bed. Sighing, she shook her head and began wondering what she could possibly substitute for that particular article of clothing.
Deonte heard the disappointment in Skutt's voice, and lowered his head. He hated her to be unhappy, and vaguely understood that he was the cause this time. Pitifully, he crawled out from under the bureau, and sat gazing up at his human guardian on the bed. He scrabbled up beside her, and pushed his wet nose into her palm, squeaking softly.
She felt the little animal crawl up next to her, and smiled a little at his dejected manner. It was just a bra, after all. Reaching down, she picked the sea mink up, and cuddled him under her chin. "It's all right baby, mommy really isn't mad at you," she said with a sigh, stroking his soft fur. He seemed visibly comforted by this gesture, and soon was squirming to be set back down on the floor. Shaking her head, she released him, and lay back down. She ought to make sure that her other clothes were safely put away.February 7th Today Deonte destroyed the one bra I brought with me. I was mad at him, but then he pulled that little "repentant" act that always gets to me. He's lucky he's so cute.
~Skutt
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