Posted by maleperduis 13 years ago Report

As usual, the two of you did a lovely job here. Poor Tarik- though he did miss the strategy I would have taken in his uneviable position.

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Posted by JacktheRabbit 13 years ago Report

Thank you! This whole saga started as a small idea and escalated fairly quickly (just like our Jaabir/Lichthia pairing in general actually).

At this point we were very undecided on what Tarik's true fate was. We never really set anything in stone and seem to both enjoy the tenseness of 'not knowing' what might happen. Given a mouse is living with a snake, (which wasn't at all planned itself) there's no direct answer as to what will happen for sure until it does. So, when I gave Tarik's appeals and begs, they were legitimate. I tried to consider anything I could that a desperate rat might try ^^;

I tried to be thorough, so you very much have me curious what the idea is ^^ Lichthia/Tabatha could probably give her reply.

In any case, I'll post the next chapter soon ^^

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Posted by maleperduis 13 years ago Report

Yeah, I understand that. Generally in an RP I want to know where things are going, but if I click with somebody as well as you and Tabatha seem to be, I can understand how uncertainty might be exciting too.

My idea would have been to try to convince Lichthia to keep the rat as a reserve snack. Either she just takes pity on him and waits another day or so before deciding Jaabir was hungry enough that she should feed him, or even better, Tarik could make a deal with Lichthia much like the one she made with Jaabir. He tells her where his home is, and she doesn't tell Jaabir. Potentially doesn't even tell him about meeting the rat at all (though it's a bit late for that now!). She'd only reveal the location if Jaabir got to be so hungry that he was in danger, or if for whatever other reason his hunting was severely restricted.

She did seem to be at least somewhat sympathetic towards him on an emotional level, so if she didn't consider the idea stupid enough to alienate her (like some of his other suggestions/pleadings) it could work. And after the scary situation she and Jaabir had been in before when he was hurt, the idea of a reserve rat in case such a thing ever happens again might be logically appealing.

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Posted by JacktheRabbit 13 years ago Report

Hehe ^^ That's a good idea. There is one small issue there that creeps up soon:

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Posted by Tabatha_Cat 13 years ago Report

This is Lichthia's player. Thank you very much for your interest and kind words.

At least at the beginning of the rp, Lichthia was quite content with having Tarik end up as Jaabir's supper. He did try to pred her after all. Plus she's prejudiced against rats (she has unpleasant memories of what they did back when she was in a colony).

Yes, she felt some sympathy for him on an emotional level, as she'd feel sympathy for any creature facing their end; she knows from first hand experience what that's like. But as she told Tarik, Jaabir needs to eat. And while she could have let him go (at some small risk to herself, as she'd end up spending the night alone with a hungry python), in the end Jaabir would end up eating someone. And who's to say the creature Jaabir caught in Tarik's place would be any less worthy of life than Tarik? At a minimum, whatever creature Jaabir would catch probably wouldn't be one who'd tried to make a meal of herself.

So I don't think such pleas would have swayed her, any more than the pleas Tarik made to travel with him to his burrow. She doesn't generally actively help Jaabir with his hunting, but once Tarik crossed the line by attacking her, after she'd given him a warning, she felt he was fair game. Especially since if she'd just left him unconscious in the rain, he would have almost certainly met his end anyway. At least with Jaabir he had some chance of survival.

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Posted by maleperduis 13 years ago Report

Hi Tabatha. We actually know each other, I play abbey_bunny on the chat.

Thanks for the response, though I'm not sure it exactly answers my suggestion. Or at least, not the whole thing. Just waiting another day before feeding him to Jaabir... sure, that would pretty much entirely be based on feeling sympathetic for Tarik over a stranger. The main idea though was that she'd learn were Tarik lives and have him more or less indefinitely as a "reserve snack" in case Jaabir's ability to hunt was ever interfered with again.

Anyway, it's really just an academic point, and there are other reasons for not wanting to go along with that, including the logistics of making sure Tarik stayed where he was without giving away the location to Jaabir.

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Posted by JacktheRabbit 13 years ago Report

That likely would have been a good direct plea, along with the condition Jaabir set-forth in the other chapter before he could leave the nest.

Though, of course not sure either would go for it. For Jaabir, he might worry that another predator would just eat Tarik first. Lichthia before, when she got a few days (for example) he gave her a large amount of food so she didn't need to leave the her burrow in all those 3 days (even though she ended up staying with him later): The reason he gave that, apart from just being nice, was because he didn't want to risk something else taking her. For a long time frame, it would be difficult to keep him away from danger, and thus 'a rat in the coil is worth a two in the burrow' logic may enter into play.

Still, it probably would have been met more positively than other suggestions Tarik tried I am sure.

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Posted by maleperduis 13 years ago Report

Right! The one that they eventually settled on was even better.

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Posted by Tabatha_Cat 13 years ago Report

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, hello Abbey!

I can never be certain my characters will do until I actually play it out. But given the circumstances, I think she would have told him to take any such pleas directly to Jaabir. She doesn't want to be the one who makes the final decision.

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