• Graded • Dude, Where's My Goose?

[Varthakh]

The goose continued to peck at the deer carcass for some time. He immediately stopped when at last he realised how old the body must have been. The Avriel sure didn't have his bow anymore, and his wrist was probably too fucked to clobber the thing to death. He must have shot it dead ages ago. Sickened, the goose stepped back a few paces and looked to Paplo with a sort of 'what am i doing here?' kind of glare. Suffice to say, Fridgar was unimpressed. There had to be something he could do to entertain himself, surely?

The goose searched the cave with its bulgy eyes, scanning the the natural stonework with its massive black pupils. Suddenly, a fly would land on his beak. Fridgar stared at the insect and the insect stared at him with its many eyes. Fridgar grew more and more furious with each passing trill, he waited in silence. The endgame of his mutation kicked in and the danger of the fly was revealed; nothing. The fly was purely prey and of no threat to him. If he could snarl, he would. As quick as he could manage in this clumsy form, he withdrew his beak and jabbed for the bug with his beak wide. He missed, of course, but that wasn't the end of this fight, oh no.

Fridgar activated three sheets to the wind via Palenon, greatly increasing his reaction speed. His eyes followed the fly with extreme precision, almost looking ahead of the creature as it flew. In a single swoop, Fridgoose lunged forward and caught the insect in his beak. He could tell by the feeling of buzzing bumping across what would have been the roof of his mouth, strangely, the buzzing was louder in his head while he kept it captive. Unfortunately for the fly, Fridgar was fresh out of mercy. In a single gulp, he swallowed the organism and sent it into his goosen gut. Melting alive seemed like a suitable enough punishment for the insects crimes.

It was only trills later that Fridgar realised, he'd just ate a bug. Did that count as meat? Even if it did, it was still gross. Unfortunately, bug-fighting was one of the only activities he had while in this form. Having had enough, Fridgar resorted to listening to the pair's conversation. They spoke of many things, food, gifts, girls. The latter subject perked his ears. The goose pondered whether or not there were any female monsters for the Avriel to fuck on occasion? Probably not, though he felt no sympathies after meeting female monsters in past relationships.

Still though, the Avriel seemed bothered by something. Maybe he was gay? Who knew? No, that couldn't be it. Fridgar had become a few birds in his time and knew for a fact that the males did not have male parts. Could it be that couplating was painful for the Avriel? Fridgar did not know, neither was he particularly interested. The guy was evil, he shot a girl for no reason. Meanwhile, Fridgar was on the road to the straight and narrow, he couldn't afford to feel bad for some scummy criminal monster.

What came next was even more interesting to him, the Avriel spoke formal, business like, as though he and Paplo had some sort of work to do. That's when it hit him, the two worked together. His goose eyes widened in response, he hadn't quite expected the monster to be capable of coordinating, somehow. It was surprising, to say the least. What kind of business do a bird man and an old fart go about running together? Soon, all was revealed to him. The two were killers. Or at least Paplo was. Given the quickness at which the Avriel had taken arms to two people in the wild, it was safe to assume that he was a killer too.

Well, as long as they didn't kill anyone in front of him, he didn't much care. Otherwise, he was a great beacon of justice that would smite any and all evil, or so he believed. Fridgar looked to Paplo and held a firm stare as soon as the Avriel mentioned the killing. Sure, the beast had killed before, but that was old Fridgar. New Fridgar was mostly merciful. Either way, giving away that he heard Paplo's secret might not have been his best idea, but he had three sheets to the wind active and enough ether to unleash. He was ready to mess up a killer or four, even in goose form!

[Limbo]

Misty Mania was still affecting him, and thus there was no hunger within the Mortalborn, yet he still felt somewhat envious when he watched others eat. It was a psychological craving rather than a physiological one. His stomach didn’t rumble nor produce acids strong enough to corrode him from within. However, his fingers still tried to twitch, and his mouth still salivated as he witnessed the feeding. In his younger forms, the illiterate teacher had killed anyone that ate before him, as if it had been a trigger for his needs. With time and mostly experience, however, he had learned to control those urges, and he had disciplined his mind to turn that envy into pleasure. Now, whenever he saw someone eating, he tried to feel what they felt, to savor what they savored. He imagined the texture, the condiments, and the various layers of flavors. He imagined chewing it, swallowing it, and experiencing how his stomach expanded and craved for more. Thus, the hungriest creature to walk Idalos had been turned into a culinary cuck.

There was clearly something odd about Noth’s response. It didn’t take a psychological wannabe to figure out the sudden tension, the repressed emotion, and the deadly intent. Somewhere in his storytelling, Paplo had made a mistake, and Noth had been drawn away from the original intent. Paplo quickly interpreted it as envy, for Noth seemed incompetent enough to never develop anything similar to affection. The gifted gladius was not a kindness – it was pure management. Noth was self-serving. In his speech he revealed his fears and nightmares, and the very nature that lurks beneath his feathery façade. His children would be snuffed in the night in a heartbeat and with no remorse were his safety compromised by even the most gentle of gusts. That was why words like monster were sharp as knives for his ears; not even he could stand the revelation of his own inhumanity. Monsters like Kovic were merely lost in their way, left behind and forgotten by the world. Noth, however, had been forged into the image of damnation, and his only cure was a death as cruel as the glint in his eye.
“Kill what you love, and love what you hate, and you shall be forever,” Paplo directly quoted from his most dramatic parts of his imagination. “I will take heed of your advice, my friend. That is why I came, and that is why I shall leave satisfied and at peace. Thank you for your hospitality.”

It was time to address the animal in the room. Of course, Paplo barely even glanced towards the goose, save perhaps to direct it one of his stink-eyes, which tried to express nothing but hatred for the creature. However, his eye contact with those black eyes remained for an extra moment, surely not enough to cause suspicion, but enough to send a message between accomplices. This message was surely undecipherable, of course, for not even the Fridgoose had been informed of what was expected of him. Taking his gladius and giving it a last overview, Paplo turned towards his companion and nodded.
“Farewell. Tie that goose next time.”

And so Paplo left, and left the two some much needed intimacy. It was then when Paplo realized he did not have to experience a second-hand tale of what had transpired in this questionable cavernous den. As such, instead of heading for the exit of the forest, he loudly walked away before stopping once the cave was out of sight, and now, he turned around and gently tried to sneak his way towrads the last treeline before the cave’s entrance. From there, he wanted to listen, and perhaps walk in were his suspicions to reach their peak. Before making his way back, however, Paplo took the time to get rid of the Gladius, which he buried underneath a thin layer of dirt. It would be as useful there as in his hands.

Off Topic

All yours from now on.

[Noth]

Calm attempted to set itself within the heart of the hybrid, and he cast a cool glance over at Vern to observe what she had thought of the minor outburst of emotion. She appeared to be completely entranced by the deer corpse, and he wondered whether or not she could smell the meat. It was still somewhat tasteful, but there was little doubting that it was beginning to stink after having been dead for a few trials now. Flies buzzed about the body, apparently just as entranced as the goose as they laid their eggs, preparing the corpse to be devoured by maggots.

Maggots held a strange place in the hybrid’s heart. On the one hand, there were incredibly disgusting, and tended to herald the spoiling of flesh which was both frustrating and somewhat distressing. The way they writhed over pieces of meat made his stomach knot up slightly, and he typically he some minor difficulty in eating anything that maggots had been discovered to crawl upon. On the other hand, they didn’t actually taste terrible, and were a decent source of nutrition given how easy they were to discover and the multitudes of flies drawn to otherwise inedible food. In a way, they were a profit from something profitless, but Noth still had to steel his stomach whenever he determined to consume them, and even then he far preferred to mash them into a pulp and consume them with whatever his meal was as opposed to eating them alone.

In a way, the hybrid thought of Mammon as a bit of a maggot. He was an acquired taste, someone who wasn’t entirely without fault, but someone who could be useful nonetheless. For one, Noth was actually quite distrustful of the ancient fellow, because he had lied spontaneously in the past before, and it seemed almost certain that that disgraceful tendency would continue. Admittedly, the only resources that he really drained were his own, and so he wasn’t entirely as pesky as a true maggot. Despite his failings as an honest individual, their line of work was well-suited to his talents as an actor. The hybrid had never genuinely observed Paplo Ynush putting on a show for anyone, but he had heard of the school teacher from others, and he couldn’t help but to think that Ynush had managed to ingrain himself into the minds of the youth. If he were incredibly patient; as those with neverending life typically are, then he could likely have orchestrated a minor change of government policy simply by having his past students support his every action.

It seemed incredibly unlikely that Paplo Ynush thought quite that far ahead, however, and the hybrid let loose a frustrated sigh as he recognized wasted potential. Crimson eyes glanced sideways once again at Paplo, and then back towards Vern, staring directly into her eyes as if though he might somehow channel his thoughts between them if only he concentrated. Alas, it was to no avail, and a moment later he observed as the goose snapped into one of the buzzing flies, and consumed it.

Despite his recent meal, the hybrid couldn’t help but to find himself growing increasingly peckish as the conversation continued, and he wondered whether or not the meat of the deer carcass might be consumed if it were well-cooked. Well-cooked in the mind of the Avriel tended to be somewhat variable, but if the meat appeared decent and smelled at least moderately nice, then it was probably safe to consume. Probably.

Ynush stated something incredibly dramatic and poetic sounding, and Noth immediately wondered whether or not he might be rubbing off on the ancient somehow through his constant use of monologue and his segues into complicated speech befitting the noble-born and the higher ups of society. In that aspect, he had been taught well by his adopted father, and he could hold a conversation both with those at the bottom of the social ladder, and at the top with little difficulty. Relief and joy flooded through the Avriel’s system as Ynush agreed to desist his relationship for the sake of their mission, though his word choice in ‘Kill what you love’ did slightly alarm the hybrid. He certainly did not desire for Paplo to become involved in an affair of any kind with Nightshade, but simultaneously, he wanted her for himself, and the idea of having her dead was… difficult.

He hadn’t quite recognized that desire whilst Paplo was present, but as his mind wandered over the subject, he couldn’t help but to feel blood flush to his blue cheeks, and he imagined that if he glanced into a mirror, they would have turn some shade of violet. Of course, that situation was currently untenable, but he hoped in the future that it might somehow prosper, albeit through little effort of his own. He wanted something that he knew he could not have, like a craving for poison, and it made his innards shake with frustration until finally he released the bottled-up emotion outwards into a growl, and struck his hand against the nearby stone.

It hurt, but it was a better pain.

“Oh Vern, what am I going to do? How can I lead and not follow my own orders? Acquire what I desire without capitulating to my heart?”

[Kali'rial]

Thread Rewards:

Noth

Skill Knowledge
Detection: Watching for Subtle Tells to Determine Intent
Leadership: Giving Gifts to Underlings
Leadership: Leaders Advice their Underlings
Tactics: Taking What Someone Discards
Tactics: Making Someone Discard Something You Want.

Non-Skill Knowledge:
Kovic: May have had a tryst with Nightshade
Kovic: Stated that he would abandon the tryst.

Loot:
N/A
Injuries/Overstepping:
N/A
Fame:
N/A
Magic EXP:
No
Skill Points Awarded:
15
Kovic
Skill Knowledge:
Mortalborn Ability (Misty Mania): Removing hunger for a clearer mind
Psychology: Finding joy in simple things
Ettiquette: Dressing formal
Ettiquette: Being graceful
Deception: Bending the truth
Negotiation: Adding new stipulation onto a closed deal
Deception: Using a gift for dark deeds

Non-Skill Knowledge:
N/A

Loot:
+1 Gladius from Noth
Injuries/Overstepping:
N/A
Fame:
-3 Nasty rumors, -2 Kovic antics
Magic EXP:
No
Skill Points Awarded:
15
Fridgar
Skill Points Awarded:
15

Comments:
I giggled over the goose in this, but I love Noth in all his creepy glory. Fantastic character and your headers are amazingly appropriate. Glorious read!