spikes on the road -- ooc prompt, finding an unlikely pet

HYPERION ! · Nov 12th 2019

// TLDR; Hyp finds a baby hedgehog, it stabs him, he gets a nose full of quills, he falls in love with said baby, now he needs help getting the quills out of his nose, feeding the thing, and figuring out what to do with it

[ tags ] -- It had been quite a while since Hyperion had gotten to walk through the tall pines of the Veil's dark forest on his own. Lately his days had been full of greeting newcomers, checking in on members, and assisting with the Veil's younger members. He loved all of these things, but the relentless stream of trauma, death, and injury to his Clanmates had emotionally exhausted him. He couldn't imagine how Ver, Riptide, Adara, and Junepaw all felt. It seemed like the five of them were barely keeping things together some days. But today, Hyperion had made sure to schedule some alone time to enjoy the forest, and so far it had been nothing but peaceful.

Suddenly a shuffling sound in the underbrush caught the tiger's attention. He thought he'd been alone out here, but perhaps a piece of prey hadn't heard him coming? The rumble in his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten much today, and so perhaps a mouse or squirrel would do him well. Dropping into an easy hunter's crouch, the tiger stalked closer to the brush where the noise had come from, narrowing his eyes until he could see four little legs moving over dead leaves. Yes, some kind of animal was lurking there. Closer and closer he crept until he was about to pounce. Then, like magic, the brush parted and out scurried a tiny hedgehog.

Its eyes widened when it saw the massive predator crouched before it, bristling up until quills stuck out from all angles in sharp armor. But the hedgehog was moving too quickly to stop itself, and it collided with Hyperion's broad nose. A roar escaped the tiger as what felt like a hundred red-hot pokers jabbed his sensitive extremity, filling his muzzle with blood and quills. He jerked his head up, trying to avoid smacking the hedgehog as he did so. "What in the world?" he managed to growl, pawing at his pained nostrils with one massive paw. Where had the hedgehog come from?

Looking down, he saw that it remained frozen near his paws, quivering, probably in too much shock to run away. It was just a baby, he realized, barely old enough to have hardened quills. It was kind of cute, he noticed as he blinked through tears of pain. And it was all alone. Reaching out with his emotions, he sensed the feelings of fear, hunger, and loneliness surrounding the child. Its mother had abandoned it, leaving it to fend for itself here in the Veil's massive forest. Sorrow flooded his system as he looked down at the little helpless thing. He closed his eyes briefly, sending warmth, safety, and calm to the hedgehog, hoping it would relax its quills. It didn't take much to work on such a little creature, and soon it was curled up against his paw, its quivering stopped and replaced with a need for touch, for comfort.

He couldn't just leave it here, right? He had to take it back to camp, feed it, make sure it was okay. Oh boy, the others were going to have a field day with this. Sighing, he scooped up the hedgehog in his paw and began his awkward three-legged journey back to camp, nostrils still full of quills. He'd need some help getting those out. Luckily it wasn't a far walk, and the tiger quickly found himself back in the confines of the Veil's camp. "Hey, could anybody come help me get these things out of my nose?" he called, setting the baby down gently on the earth in front of him. "And, uh... bring whatever food a baby hedgehog might eat? Maybe some bugs or something?" Yikes.

pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light.

Calina A.R.K. · Nov 17th 2019

WAIT FOR IT - TAGS ★

In contrast to Hyperion's lack of free time, Calina had plenty. Perhaps it was because she did not have the responsibility that Hyperion's rank brought to him, or maybe it was just because she hadn't been around for most of the traumatic events that had happened recently. Emotionally, she was doing as well as she could be; Xia's recent return was a strange blow to her normally steady state of mind, but it was not negative. Rather, she was simply trying to understand how her sister could be alive and not dead in a ditch somewhere, as Calina had assumed. Her abundance of personal time led her to simply lying in the shade one day, resting. She thought she heard a far-off roar, but she didn't know Hyperion well enough to recognize it as his voice, and she assumed it was merely her ears mishearing something; after all, she was half-asleep. She could have just drifted off and imagined it.

It took her a few minutes to summon the motivation to get up and go check if it was somebody that needed help. She rose to her paws, but it was only moments later that Hyperion awkwardly hobbled into camp, his strange gait caused by something that he held in his paw. He dropped it on the earth, and as Calina approached, she realized that "help me get these things out of my nose" meant the lines that stuck out of his snout. Calina squinted, trying to understand what the lines were, until she pieced "hedgehog" and "lines" together to realize that they were quills.

"Oh, shit. I'd make it worse if I tried to help with y'r nose- best to wait for someone else." Calina said bluntly, telling the honest truth. She did not have the gentle touch needed to remove them. Chances were that she would break them and he would be stuck with the stumps of the quills still on his face, and they would be even harder to remove. "I can try lookin' for some bugs for 't. Think it likes spiders?" It was getting colder out, but Calina knew that spiders loved to hide in the crevices of the stony ruins. She paused a moment, about to embark on her journey to find spiders for it, but she paused. "Are y' gonna keep that?" She motioned with her (thankfully quill-less) muzzle toward the baby hedgehog.

HYPERION ! · Nov 19th 2019

[ tags ] -- At Calina's arrival, relief coursed through Hyperion. Finally, someone who could help him. Ah, but she couldn't remove the quills with her large paws. He sighed. "I have no idea what it eats, but spiders are a good first guess. That would be great, thank you." The tiger winced as his words caused the quills to poke further at his nostrils and muzzle. This was getting increasingly annoying. "And if you see anybody with steady paws while you're out, would you send 'em my way?" He wanted these things out of him.

Are y' gonna keep that? At Calina's question, he paused for a minute, staring down at the squirming bundle of death needles with big eyes. It was kind of cute, he supposed, and it looked like it had been abandoned... "I don't know," he admitted, unable to look away from the baby. "It seemed lonely, like it had been left, but also it did this to me, so..." He gestured to his muzzle with his tail, feeling an uncharacteristic irritation rise within him again as he did so. "But it's just a baby, and it's clearly terrified." Another sigh. "I don't know, what do you think I should do with it?"

pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light.

Orfhlaith Faelan · Nov 22nd 2019

The mare was also drawn towards the scene by Hyperion’s roar, though fear was the first thing she felt upon hearing the loud noise , poising herself to run instinctively before her logical mind kicked in. She was still getting used to living with large predator animals after living in a herd for so long. She had managed to trot over in enough time to hear the bulk of the conversation before wincing at the sight of his nose, luckily for him, this type of injury she knew well about. She’d seen her fair share of curious fillies and colts trying to prove themselves running back to the herd after a run in with a family of hedgehogs, they happened to be quite common at her old home.

“Ah, they can be wee bastards to get out.” She commented as the friesian looked down at the little critter and smile, they were adorable little things. She gave a small frown when the tiger commented sourly about its actions. “Well yer giant compared to it, and it’s barely past a wean, what did ye expect was gonna happen?” The equine shook her head before deciding until a proper medic came she may be able to help. “Am no medic, but a’ know puttin’ yer nose over boiling water should help, the steam opens up yer pores and makes them easier to remove, also helps slightly wi’ infection.” She almost felt like she was back at the herd, and it felt good being able to help in some way. Much like Calina and unlike Hyperion, Órfhlaith had found herself unnervingly idle, and also practically unaware of the current troubles the Veil was going through, she knew it was a change, but with her non-existing battle skills, and poor knowledge of anything regarding such she felt a bit out of place and like she couldn’t do much, being able to give some advice made her feel useful.

“A’ have removed spines a few times, but like a’ said am no medic, and also a’ve only ever done this wi’ ma teeth.” Her lack of paws made a lot of tasks more difficult for the young mare, and she thought it fair to warn him considering.

Turning to Calina she nodded with a smile. “Aye they’ll eat spiders, but they tend to prefer slimier bugs like snails, slugs and worms.” Maybe under some of the fallen leaves they’d find something appropriate. Noticing her odd level of knowledge she shrugged and pawed at the ground lightly. “Hedgehogs were very common where a’ was born.”

//Mobile and rushed, sorry!!

"Speech."

she rules her life like a fine skylark —— tags.

STRINGTHEORY. · Nov 23rd 2019

Upon hearing his da- friend roar out in pain, Theo abandoned the half-finished jigsaw puzzle that was sitting at his feet, instead opting to bust open his front door and rush outside. Upon exiting his home, the canine would make his way through the center of camp towards Hyperion, worriedly looking the tiger over for a minute before sighing. "You're not dying." He mumbled, looking embarrassed. Not expecting anyone to interrupt his board game hour, the appearance was less than perfect, with frazzled fur and a tired shine to his gaze. That and his chest hurt from jogging over here. Once the blush faded from Theo's face, he couldn't help but point at the old man's nose and laugh. It wasn't mean, but his chortling was loud enough to be heard for miles. "Sorry- sorry." He wheezed, grinning from ear to ear. "It's just that you look like a living pincushion. Did someone's grandmother ask you to hold her sowing needles while she took a nap?" Since Hyperion was in mortal danger or anything like that, Theo had every intention of teasing him and not helping out. A big wild cat like him, getting attacked by a poor, defenseless creature like this one? Impossible. Speaking of the little guy, wasn't he a cutie?

Slowly lowering himself to the ground, his grin would calm into a soft smile as he stared at the hedgehog. "You should totally keep 'em. Name 'em something adorable while you're at it." He woofed, staring up at everyone with what could only be described as puppy dog eyes. Big and begging, that's what they were. "Please? We just have to keep it! It'll die if we don't do something. I'll even help you take care of it! It can stay in my room and eat-" He paused mid-sentence, finally registering what Órfhlaith had said. Wait, hedgehogs ate worms, slugs, snails, and spiders? Nuh-uh, no way Jose. A good chunk of his pets happened to be mollusks and arachnids, and he wasn't going to let some- some interloper eat his precious pals. Creatures they he had been raising since they were mere babes in a dirt blanket. A look of discomfort settled on his maw, and he backtracked. "On second thought... it can stay at your place. Still, why not raise the little fella as your own? Between you and me, Pops, I wouldn't mind a sibling or three." To be honest, Theo wasn't sure where this barrage of father jokes had come from. They just flowed from his mouth like oil from a well, you know?

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