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 Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2021 6:14 pm
Quote: Prompt 8 (Mouse in the House): It’s snowing outside, and it’s going to keep snowing--all night long. They're not calling it a blizzard but it sure does feel like one. The power seems like it’ll stay on, which is good because it’s so cold outside. You’re safe and warm--but you’re not alone. At first, you might not notice anything. Maybe you see something move out of the corner of your eye, or hear something in the other room. It doesn’t take long to find the culprit: a mouse. A mouse is sharing your living space, your shelter from the storm. On one hand, you don’t know where it’s been. On the other hand, it’s freezing outside, and it has big, sweet eyes. Do you have the heart to kick anything out in this weather? ...Do you really want that thing running around your place unchecked? As part of her research on introducing mushrooms as a resource to Velencya, Naeria had managed to order some kits from the internet so that she could watch the growth cycle of some of the most common edible species firsthand. Her closet was stacked high with boxes full of damp soil, and spores. Day by day they were growing webs of mycelium, and eventually, fruiting bodies began to appear. They were still tiny, but they looked delicious. Naeria had just not considered the fact that they might come across as delicious to other species. When Naeria opened her closet door and saw the tiny creature there, nibbling at the corner of one of her boxes, she squeaked. The small creature squeaked back. Naeria stared. The creature did not move. She was not sure what to do, and even after squatting on the floor and staring for a long time, she was still not sure what to do, so she very slowly walked to her door and poked her head out into the hallway. After gathering her nerves, she asked, "Is anyone here right now?" She swallowed. "An incident has occurred."
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2022 11:25 pm
Neryn could not say whether they were a fan of Earth's winter season or not. Snow was such an interesting concept, they'd spent several hours amid the falling snow taking samples and documenting things. They'd tried to take specimens of the snow flakes themselves but they melted far too quickly. Frustrated by this, they'd gone back inside to try to find some device among the Velencian tech that could either take visual captures of the flakes or preserve them.
Naeria's voice from down the hall caught their attention. An incident? That didn't sound particularly great. Neryn stuck a mental note to go in search of a device later, and turned the corner. They approached Naeria, hand on the bolt caster hung over their shoulder.
"Naeria, what kind of incident? Are we in danger?" they said before glancing at the open door. Naeria was clearly not in any present danger, but if something had taken up residence in her room, it could still be dangerous.
Like that cat behind the large trash container - humans called them dumpsters, they reminded themself - where all was well so long as you ignored it's presence. If you acknowledged it, it tried to bite you. No, Neryn did not still have a bandage on their left calf from that positively horrendous discovery. No, of course not.
stari_maga Gods I am so sorry I never tagged this during the event.
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 8:06 am
Naeria found herself breathing again when Neryn came into view. At least she would not have to deal with this alone. She beckoned them over and stepped just outside of the doorframe, herself, so that they could both observe the small creature from a safe distance. "There is an animal in my room," she told them, and pointed towards where the mouse was visible, just inside her closet door. It had not moved at all, other than to wiggle its nose and its whiskers. "I do not know what the level of danger is. I do not know what its defense adaptations might be, but it has never been in here before." A hint of warmth spread to Naeria's cheeks, because she should have known. In one of Kurma's books, there had been a picture of an animal that looked very similar to the one that they were observing right now. The text on that page had just been so dense, and Naeria's translator had struggled with it, and rather than putting in the effort to read it, anyway, she had moved onto parts of the book that seemed more interesting.
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2022 6:14 pm
An animal? Neryn looked through the doorframe and into the closet beyond, eyeing the small creature with fur and a tail. It didn't seem to do anything except just wiggle it's nose, as if it was sniffing. They pulled out their datapad and searched for 'small brown four legged furred animal with a tail' into the search bar.
"... the World Wide Web does not seem to know what this animal is either. It could be... one of several. None of these results seems accurate to what we'--- Where did it go?" Neryn asked, looking up from their table and finding the creature now missing. Could it stealth!? Now they had to be extra vigilant in case it jumped out at them.
"We must find it Naeria. Be cautious; it could appear anywhere now." Neryn cautiously started to move into the room, else peeled for the small creature.
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Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2022 7:32 am
Even the human's Internet databases did not have records of a creature like this? Strange. Naeria looked over at Neryn for long enough to raise a concerned eyebrow. "My scan did indicate that it was a herbivore," she told them, "But I have no idea what kind of defense mechanisms it might unleash if it feels threatened." Which, was quite a thought to end on as the two of them turned around to find the creature gone. "Oh no," said Naeria, concern shifting to barely restrained panic. She followed Neryn back into her room, kneeling to look under her bed slowly and carefully. Nothing. What she could see of the closet still seemed empty, too, as did the area under her dresser and desk. "It could have gone back outside?" she said, because clearly it had gotten in somehow, so it was not trapped.
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 4:02 pm
Neryn scanned the room with her datapad, looking for life signs other than themself and Naeria. There was a soft beeping sound localized in the wall on the left, moving away from them. Neryn investigated the wall near the floor, moving aside the desk slightly to look behind it more thoroughly.
There, hiding behind the attached drawers of the desk, was a small hole in the wall at floor level. It looked like the mouse itself hadn't chewed it's way out; it looked liked something had kicked or punched the hole through the wall by accident. The desk hadn't been flush with the wall, which had allowed the mouse to worm its way out of the hole.
"Ah. I found how it got it. It's moving through the walls, but looks like it used this little hole here to get in. Probably cold from the snow outside," they said, looking up at Naeria. They were already pulling out some expanding foam from subspace. "Going to fill up this hole so it cannot get back in,"
At least they knew where it was and was not now! Neryn sealed up the hole with a application of the foam, and moved the desk back to it's original position.
"Mystery solved. I think we should put a notice up for the house to be on alert for mice," they said.
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