savetheearth

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The other animals had driven Queenie out of the stand of trees she had been hiding in for the last few months. They had been normal enough for the earlier part of the year, but the little black bugs had changed all that; sure, on their own, even Queenie could give them what for, but the infected birds and beasts by the ton had cost her sleepless night after sleepless night, until even her stubborn pride could see that this was a lost cause. She had retreated after a couple of days.

For the next few days, she had been stumbling through hairless walker territory, where at least the packs were easier to spot. Staying mostly out of sight, making sure all the little insects she ran across died a toothy, fanged death (it hurt, and she probably has scald marks in her mouth from the process, but it was necessary), she made her way to a group of buildings that seemed mostly abandoned, taking shelter in the driest, sturdiest waterspouts she could fit in. She was getting hungry and very, very tired.

But a week ago, she hadn't awakened to the sound of crows desperately trying to ram their way into the water spout. A few more hours of investigation had revealed that half of the animals she had shared the Dead Zone with were outright dead; nests abandoned, holes filled with bodies. Not a pretty sight.

Today is the eighth day of blessed peace; right now, she's sitting as pretty as a very bedraggled princess in a space between a rain gutter and a roof, where she'd found yet another abandoned bird's nest. She's making a meal of some birds' eggs and watching the abandoned roads, considering going back to her forest. There's something in this group of buildings that's making her nervous... As easy as food was to come by around here, she didn't want to stick around while that feeling made her fur stand on end.

[[ ooc: lyall will be coming by to pick her up, but if your character has been in the dead zone at all for the last week and a half, feel free to assume that they've seen her wandering around, especially since the vermini disappearance. ]]

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Utter lies!! She makes a small grunting sound. Of course he can grab her if she comes down, all he has to do is take a few steps forward! Or... She sets her head on her paws, thinking. Well, it's not as though he actually knows she can understand him, and he could have easily laughed like a villain and explained his entire nefarious plan to her, assuming she'd be none the wiser. It wasn't a perfect reason to trust him, but at the very least, she would know to leave the moment he started getting fishy.

The sight of him eating another one of those things at least convinces her that the food itself is safe. She backs up and hops down to a nearby crate, slinking her way down each box until she makes it down to the ground, then slowly approaches the dark thing, her nose sniffing hard at it while he eyes kept track of the tall two-legged beast.

Well, true, he probably could. If he were remotely coordinated when it comes to such things. As it is, he smiles a bit as she sneaks down, watching while he chews and not saying anything, lest he scare her off again. Only when she gets closer to the jerky, does he dare a calm and conversational, if quiet, "It's not bad, really. If you don't mind dried meat with a little salt flavoring. Mustelids are omnivores, I'm sure it will go down all right."

Meat, huh? She's not sure what a mustelid or an omnivore is, but the words meat and salt ring through loud and clear. She picks it up in her jaws and gives it a chew... and trills in pleasant surprise. Oh. Ooh yes, that's nice. She plops herself down, standing the little strip up between her paws so she can chew at the end, giving it a good dusting off disguised as her fumbling around with it. Why do all these tall beasts get all the good food, anyway? If she had a fire and raw meat, she's pretty sure she could duplicate the cooking process, given enough time... and fine motor skills.

Lyall chuckles, sitting back on his heels to watch. "You must have been tame at one point... no wild thing would come this close, unless she was used to being fed. Look like you could use a good bath and combing, though. And treatment for fleas...." Of course, that would require actually catching her, and he's pretty sure she won't let him do that.

He chews down some more of the jerky thoughfully while she nibbles. "It really is too bad. Cute thing like you shouldn't be out here on your own. Especially not with those sprites and that invasion... thing." He can just imagine those little bugs trying to infest her. Even if no one's seen them in a while, it's still possible they're out there.

She's pretty sure she's anything but tame, but when she goes back as far in her memories as she can, she can't think of any evidence for the idea. She's pretty sure she doesn't and has never minded the lack of a good bath in her life, but the basic concern he has for her is, well, nice. It beats her old family, that's for sure.

She was planning on letting him yammer on, but the minute the word "invasion" leaves his mouth, she pauses in mid-bite, looking up at him seriously. Did he know about the little black insects that left scalding steam whenever she killed one? Because she certainly knew about them... Nothing pleasant, of course, but if they had the walkers' attention, maybe they were why they all disappeared all of a sudden.

"It's almost like you can understand me," Lyall comments, not seriously. "So what in that caught your attention? Sprites? Cuteness? Flea treatment? Probably bath, if you're anything like any other pet out there, you probably hate them."

He gingerly holds out his fingers for her to get a sniff on, testing to see if she'll run away. Sorry, Romsca, he isn't going to share any more details on the demonic little bugs just yet.

Queenie blinks innocently, her face as blank as a sheet. Comprehension? Pssh. In your wildest dreams. She doesn't particularly feel one way or another about baths, but she'll snap her jaws in mock annoyance at the sound of the word before going back to gobble up the rest of the jerky strip.

She licks her paws daintily before considering his outstretched fingers... this is dangerous territory. He still hasn't done anything suspicious, but Queenie was always a choosy creature, no exceptions. She'll eye his hand for a long moment before resting on her haunches, turning her attention elsewhere, and then another elsewhere right behind her. The quickest way to make someone believe you aren't as smart as they are is to act as though everything in the world grabs your attention, a lesson that she had learned early on.

"Probably baths. I don't know much about ferrets besides classification and range... and that you're illegal in California, heh. I wonder how many words you do learn... dogs learn plenty, and cats, after all." While he talks, and she looks around, Lyall pulls out another strip of jerky, tears it in half, and holds one half out to her. He doesn't set it down; if she wants it, she has to come get it. "Here you go. A little more."

At the sound of his voice, she turns back, listening attentively to what he says. She's familiar with the word California, but only through passing conversation. She thinks it's another place, but she doesn't know where it could be, or what it is. For all she knows, it's a church, or a castle...

At the proffered strip of jerky, she takes another step forward, then another, before the goal behind his actions strikes her. This is the flattest look a mustelid has ever given anyone in the entire world. Really? Trust exercises? This was completely beneath her.

... Ugh. But she was supposed to be acting like a ferret, right? The instinct to just follow the food is still there, sure, but something else was telling her to be cautious, be cautious, never be too quick to trust. She compromises by stopping in her tracks, but weaving her head through the air, as though she's willing the meat to come closing to her.

For an animal, it's perfectly reasonable to go for trust exercises, especially when one is hoping just a little to perhaps rescue said animal from the streets. Lyall tries to lean forward to get the scrap closer to her--

--and loses his balance, flailing briefly before falling onto his hands and knees. At least it's not his face, but it was close there for a second. "Oh, hell." He's also entirely sure that's going to scare her off. At least there's nobody here to laugh at him....

... Hell's teeth, this beast. She does back off, but she also sees that he's basically tripped over his own feet and didn't mean her harm. How could any one beast be so clumsy while basically standing still?

She considers the situation again. Well, if he's more of a danger to himself than he is to others, then surely the situation calls for a little sympathy. She lopes forward again, trilling right in front of him, sniffing at his hands and head. Any scrapes?

Someday he'll get his werewolf grace and control back. Someday he'll be something more than a slightly awkward biology teacher with a lot of interest in sheep genetics.

That someday is not now. He huffs a sigh that's almost a laugh, and smiles down at her. "All right, so I didn't just scare you off... I'm all right. Just lost my balance, that's all." He pushes back up, and instead of standing, drops to his rear end on the pavement. "There, can't fall down from that."

... But if any creature could manage it, Queenie suspects he could. Still, by guile or guilelessness, she is now right next to him, and certainly can't just turn back now. That would be plain cowardice! She's gotten this far, after all. So after a bit of contemplation, she scampers around to the hand currently holding the strip and nudges it hard. Contact has been made! Great! Give her the meat now, please.

That's just adorable, okay? For the first time in days, Lyall feels like he's actually forgetting about all the shit going on, and just enjoying a moment. Even if that moment happens to involve embarrassment and beef jerky. "All right, all right, hold your horses, little girl," he chuckles, and opens his hand to reveal the meat, holding his arm steady for her. "Maybe you wouldn't mind too much if I took you home... I could feed you better, at the least. And it'd be warm."

Nevermind that bargaining with a ferret is just silly.

She starts chewing the meat with gusto, the lists in her head slowly starting to fill with more pros than cons... Hellfire. Why not? If he turns out to be an unsavory type, she feels as though she's put up enough of a smoke screen to give her an edge if it came down to outsmarting him. She lifts her head from the meat and gives him another trill. Let's leave him with the impression that she enjoys his company, shall we?

All Lyall can assume is that she really is tame and was just waiting for a friendly voice that came bearing food. He balances her carefully on his arm, leaning over to zip up his laptop bag. "I guess if you stay put long enough for me to pass by that statue and get you home, then that will answer that, hmm?"

He tucks her and her snacky-bit against his chest, hoping that doesn't scare her off, and started climbing carefully to his feet. This time, his balance at least is good.

Nope! She'll be good to travel... Until he mentions the statue. Ugh, that blasted statue. Not that she minds going past it, exactly, but she's noticed that the keep-away feeling seems to extend towards all birds and beasts... She's never seen a creature besides herself willing to get closer to it, though.

She's about to see if this two-legger has noticed that. She'll just remain still and quiet, happily chewing away at her meat strip.

Glad that she hasn't decided being closer is worse for her, Lyall gives her the second half of the jerky stick and settles his laptop over his other shoulder, then sets off. There's no more chatter to himself and her until he reaches the awful thing, and then he's tense and unhappy, casting about for local scents.

Of which there are actually very few. He frowns, taking a second and more obvious sniff of the air. "Where is everything...?"

She accepts the strip, but pauses in her chewing to look directly at the statue as they approach it... then back up at the two-legger. She wasn't aware that this one could smell properly, like any other normal beast.

If he tarries any longer, she'll give him a sound a bit like her normal trill and a bark. Hello? What are we looking at, here? Well, it's the statue, obviously, but it doesn't look like it's moved or changed since the last time she's seen it, and that was when she first got here a week and a half ago.

He does tarry, and her trill startles him. He blinks, shakes his head, and finally, after giving the statue a long, suspicious look, goes on his way again. "Very strange. Maybe that aura works no animals, as well... or else something is going around and actively chasing off animals. There aren't any new scents around here." It helps a little, to talk out what he's smelling. It makes him sound crazy, but since there's no one here to notice except a ferret, he does it anyway.

So he does know about that feeling, and more importantly, he can smell. She looks at the statue a little more closely... So it's definitely the cause of all of the strange feelings she's had? Does that mean it's connected to all of the bug encounters she's had as well?

-- And if this one can smell, she thought in a burst of logic, does that mean that he was different, too? Different like her? Perhaps he had been changed by that pink light, or... Well, he doesn't appear to be capable of fighting off a lizard his size, but something must have happened to him, too. It's a big jump to make, but she think she may be on the right track.

Suddenly, she grips the jerky a little more tightly and buries her nose into the crook of his elbow. This wasn't just happening to her. She wasn't the only one confused. That's... nice. It's good. She can get more information about this phenomenon without having to doubt that she'd be on her own forever. It'll be useful hanging around this fellow. Yes.

Startled, Lyall pauses in his walking. He brings his other hand up to stroke her back soothingly, with a soft, "It's all right. I know it's scary. We'll get you home where that damn thing isn't going to try and get inside our heads." It's the only thing he can think of that might be upsetting her, but that's good enough to him. He picks up the pace again, and heads for home.

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