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+--- Thread: On·o·mat·o·poe·ia (/showthread.php?tid=8198)
On·o·mat·o·poe·ia - Maw - Jul 05 2020
Thank goodness she'd gotten away from that oddball wiggler. She'd walked down yet another branch of the tunnel she had no idea how to navigate, and now she was here.
Where was here?
Well, it was green. Exceedingly green. Bright and green like she'd never before seen. But not the kind of bright that the shiny brat room had been. A... a pleasant kind of bright. The opposite of her birthplace. It was nice, and so was the smell. And the sounds... the sounds-- wait, was that buzzing? Something buzzing, by the plants doused in an interesting kind of hue. They weren't just green, they were other colors too! And above them, little bugs -- that's what they were called -- that seemed to follow that same colorful logic.
Madhukar wiggled-- wait no, she didn't wiggle! She doesn't wiggle! It's totally not wiggling, it's um, waddling. She waddled over to the round, fuzzy bugs, dawdling around above the ground. The way they moved felt nonsensical, silly. It would've been annoying had they not made such a pleasant buzzing. Madhukar felt mesmerized, in a trance, having to sit and watch them. They gingerly bumped and thumped from one bit of flora to the next, seeming to be aiming for something in each one. It was kind of miraculous when they found their mark; like a dizzy arrow hitting the bullseye on a target. Madhukar was lost to time and sensation as she observed, quietly purring among them.
It reminded her of those water-walking bugs in her birthplace. And that reminded her of the tall, graceful striding creature she'd found there as well. And that reminded her of the red mousey mouse she'd eaten with Sniffles. And... and it was nice.
Something in Madhukar relaxed. Something that had needed relaxing for a long time. Still in her trance, the kitten got up to follow a particular technicolor bumble bug to wherever it was heading, away from the pretty plants.
And she would be surprised by what she found. An intriguing thing, with a wacky shape, with slits that the bugs buzzed in and out of. It wasn't that high above the ground, but it was certainly too high for the kitten to follow.
She kind of wished she could though.
RE: On·o·mat·o·poe·ia - Maw - Jul 05 2020
She sat there and watched for what could've been hours, as the bugs went in and out. What were they doing in there? How many were there? Was that their home? Were they talking and eating and playing around? Madhukar had to know more.
And without her consent -- no really, if she could've stopped it she would've -- her magic attempted to help her. She felt it in herself again, something rising, stirring, like she'd felt before when facing off with the brat. Panic rushed through her and quickly, it stopped. She swallowed hard, and soon enough relaxed.
And yet, even if her magic wouldn't grow forth, her curiosity would. Was there ANY other way to find out?
Speech?
"Hello?!" she called up to the bugs. No response. Huh. Perhaps.... perhaps if she could.... alright, it was attached to the tree branch, it looked like. Dangling up there, attached to the tree somehow. Was it also just a funky looking plant? Or a part of the tree? URGH not knowing was INFURIATING!! But discovering might be fun.
Maybe if she could just...
RE: On·o·mat·o·poe·ia - Maw - Jul 05 2020
Alright so this tree was a bit big, and large, and covered in green. What was the green? Madhukar hadn't a clue, not the right question to be asking. The goal was to get on top of the branch that held the bug home. She didn't want to step in the home, she just wanted to crane her head down enough to get a closer look at it. She hadn't encountered bugs that had hurt before, so she didn't think these bugs would mind.
She analyzed the branches, looking for a path up that her tiny kitten body could manage. Any low-hanging branches, or paw-holds, or anything would do.
RE: On·o·mat·o·poe·ia - Maw - Jul 05 2020
As she was looking at the tree, Madhukar failed to notice a lesser gembound on a higher branch. It was bright yellow, like the bug home she had been staring at, and yet her eyes had neglected it entirely.
But it hadn't neglected her. Oh, no, it would never have neglected a potential PREDATOR.
It held a hard nut of some kind, perhaps intended to be a snack. In a moment of genius, the little creature decided to turn its snack into something more like a bullet. Aimed straight at the kitten's eye. Because, I mean hey, you can't eat what you can't see, right?
It didn't know Madhukar.
The kitten recoiled with a sharp YOWL as something hard landed directly on her eye. Surprisingly, the yowl was returned! Madhukar's ears traced the sound, the single fault of her assailant. Higher. Up in the trees. DASTARDLY!
Without a second thought, the kitten slammed her tiny claws and her one immobile paw into and onto (respectively) the bark of the trees, and attempted to chase.
RE: On·o·mat·o·poe·ia - Maw - Jul 05 2020
for gross Electroball stuffBOOM, something about her anger lit a spark in her. That spark started up the motor inside her, and like a machine, she half-blindly raced up the side of the tree -- well, as good as she could race. Powered by adrenaline and rage, as per usual, the kitten managed to ascend herself up the bark (with a surprising amount of speed!) until she reached the first branch she could find. Then the second. Then the third, the fourth, the eighth; they kept coming, and her goal kept getting further and further away. NO! She couldn't let an attacker escape again! She had to let it know her WRATH!!!
If only she had range! Range, you say? That metaphorical spark, in response, attempted to become a real one. The kind that could yet again zap her bile. She felt it building again, and feared, once more, for the worst. But fear wouldn't push it down. It was coming. She wondered, as she glowered from a strong branch at her prey (which idled just a branch above her), could she... use this thing? Launch it, as one launched a ball of spit?
It ran up her throat, and then she RELEASED! Pew! A tiny wad of bile, fully charged, flung at the little creature mocking her from only a branch away. SPLAT! It hit its mark on the foot of the creature, running up the side a little, and suddenly, it stumbled and went into a free fall. Woah. Madhukar hadn't calculated the leftover bile that had landed on the branch, however. As soon as she saw a droplet forming, the kitten moved. She knew how bad that stuff could feel.
Hopping down branch to branch, the kitten sought for her fallen enemy. It was very interesting, to say the least, seeing a weapon that had once been used against her manage to land on someone else.
She definitely had to use that...
But not now. Now, she was stuck on a branch and didn't really know how to get down. Whoops.
RE: On·o·mat·o·poe·ia - Maw - Jul 05 2020
Uhhhhh okay now she was stuck. This was... embarrassing. But at least no one was around to see it! Yet. Oh gosh, if someone heard the noise and came--- but no, that wouldn't happen right? No. Who was here? Hopefully no one, Madhukar wanted very much to be alone right now.
Instead of focusing on the terrors that could be, she opted to dwell on those that had been. The terror she had caused. She'd lost sight of her prey! Where had it gone? Had it fallen to the ground? Was it in a tree? Was it unconscious, or as she had been, panicked and even more flighty than before? It would've been fine if it had been flighty, then it at least would've learned its lesson. But.... thinking about that red mousey mouse had made the kitten remember just how hungry she was.
And tired. Hunger was always accompanied by fatigue. That sucked. She'd have to search fast.
RE: On·o·mat·o·poe·ia - Maw - Jul 05 2020
vague mentions of squirrel goreMadhukar searched around the ground nearby, figuring if the thing had landed that far down it wouldn't have been able to get far. She didn't find anything. Hm... she couldn't be worried yet. Maybe it had managed to land on a branch nearby. She looked around at her own level, but found nothing. Had she overshot? She looked up and...
...about two branches above her head, it lay dangling, like the bug home. Oh yeah, the bug home! She'd have to return to that soon. But first, food. She used the same tactic she'd been using (one that worked much better during a period of less sensibility to pain) to get up the two branches: careful squirming, using her immobile paw for balance alone by pressing it against the bark, and then using the rest of her tiny clawed paws to actually climb. That method, or hopping very cautiously from branch to branch, straddling and clutching the sides with all her paws.
She barely managed to make it. She almost slipped, and that hurt one of her back paws quite a bit. She gritted her teeth and figured she'd be done after this.
Having made it up to the branch, Madhukar found the little golden creature, dazed and unconscious on the branch. It didn't look like it was doing to hot. Occasionally it would squirm; buzzing almost, but not by its own will. She almost felt bad for it-- or, well, she would've, if she hadn't been hungry and tired and angry because of it.
Carefully and swiftly, she ended its life, as Sniffles had done with the red mousey mouse. It took a more force than she'd expected, but she managed.
For a moment, she sat there and looked at its fur. It was golden, and beautiful. She liked it. Perhaps she could try to save some of it? The puffy tail wouldn't be much food for her, right? Right.
She picked up the creature in her jaws and tried to make her way down -- all the way down -- as safely as possible.
RE: On·o·mat·o·poe·ia - Maw - Jul 05 2020
With creature in jaws, she sought out a path yet again. And instantly, through some miracle, she found it! A branch behind the tree, low-hanging, that she hadn't seen before. Perfect for a staircase! A shame she hadn't seen it earlier, it would've made this whole thing a lot easier.
Without a single mistake, or a single scratch from this effort, the kitten hopped her way to the ground.
She hadn't discovered the secret of the bugs yet, but at least she would have a fine meal and pretty trophy of this successful and treacherous "hunt".
To a nearby stream she went, to wash her catch of the bile, and then to eat. She kept the tail for herself.
She'd be back for those bugs. She'd figure them out. Maybe if those specimens of flora they seemed to enjoy bumping into were around in places like her birthplace, she could feel a lot less angry being there, and have more interesting adventures, and have more luck on catching cool creatures, and everything would be better.
Wait. That wasn't a terrible idea, actually.
- exit -
((+1 Gilded Catsquirrel Tail to Inventory))