Sunny was not fast. This was something that she knew.

Her conversation with Binh had highlighted this, and she had expressed her desire to seek out a type of magic that could help her in this endeavor. When she'd realized that she might be able to ride a Lesser like she could ride her friends, it had been almost like an epiphany -- suddenly, she'd realized that she was probably capable of casting a spell to let her link a Lesser to herself. Like a spell she might use to put life into her stones, but less powerful -- trying to cast such a thing now would have likely killed her, and she really wasn't sure of the exact methodology.

Needless to say, this was something of a test run.

Sunny had scoped out her target in advance -- koorus were certainly a good option, because they had tails which could pick her up easily and moved quite quickly, not to mention that they glowed in the dark. Secondly, some of them guarded little territories and yelled noisily in their funny cry to try to find other koorus to lure towards them. The one she was going after was one of these -- Sunny had spent several days preparing for this, and was now high enough on a tree near his den that he couldn't grab her if he got angry but close enough that she could see him and cast magic at him.

He was green with a marking on his side that looked kind of like a heart, and chewing on some ferns. Sunny took a deep breath, and focused. With a concentration of her energy and a last prayer to her magickal source, she cast her spell.

She felt the spell ring through her, and a slow horror dawned on her. Something had gone terribly, horrifically wrong.

The kooru chewed contentedly on the ferns, prehensile tail swaying low to the ground and pattering against the ground. He would've paid no mind to the snail inching her way up the trunk of a tree were it not for the sudden intrusion of something. His head came up, beady-black eyes whirling around himself. Feelers clutching around for a stone, the lesser hurled it towards the trees - a near-miss for Sunny - and bellowed "koohruu!" before vanishing into the Maw of Mosses.

It seems like the snail'll have to wait until another kooru comes along...

@Sunny

Sunny felt panic spike in her as she pulled as far into her shell as she dared, not wanting to be hurt but also not wanting to fall. Thankfully, the stone hit beside her frail defenses rather than actually on her shell. "Rude!" she called as he fled, feeling firmly indignant as she let her heart rate calm. Recovery would take a while... and so would waiting for another kooru.

Or... maybe not, because it was only about twenty minutes later when another kooru came picking through the undergrowth. This one was blue, and one of the wandering ones -- lured by the male's call, perhaps? She carefully picked up a stone with her tail and crept around, smelling for him and any predators. Sunny's eyestalks waved curiously. Maybe she could try with this one instead? And hopefully not fail so royally -- her heart was still fluttering in an abnormal rhythm, and she felt far more exhausted than a standard failed cast might have led to.

Sunny reached out more gently this time -- trying to connect on a more empathetic level and soothe the animal. This blue one looked like she was easily startled, and Sunny wanted to avoid frightening her off, too.

The magic rebounded into her stone and dissipated, not meeting the kooru or forging any sort of connection with her. She still looked confused as to why this camp had been abandoned -- Sunny guessed that she was looking for predators, but coming up blank. As the snail recovered from her failed cast, she noticed the kooru come to investigate her next.

The tail dropped the stone and reached up, but could not reach. She raised her nose in the air, and Sunny made an attempt with her close -- maybe this time she'd manage it. Sunny was fond of the colors on this one, and wanted to see if she could manage to make it hers.

The magic struck out more violently this time, trying to push aggressively into her soul. The blue kooru startled, letting out a surprised cry and darting off into the bushes. She wasn't as angry as the male might have been -- just scared. Sunny's heart fell into an even more awkward rhythm, and she felt dizzy -- dropping herself off the tree, she began to crawl back to her and Tema's little den. She'd try again tomorrow; right now, she needed to rest.

An exhausting spell, to say the least -- especially when it kept scaring them off.

/exit sunny