Chapter 17 : Storage

Now she had pouches. Pouches!

She couldn't stop looking back at them as she walked around. They were the best things ever.

When she'd finally worked up the nerve to ask Annie for some she had just laughed and shaken her head.

She thought that meant Annie was saying no, but she just got up and pulled a few out of her backpack. She seemed to have a lot of stuff in there.

I'll need to see if she'll let me poke around in there sometime.

Annie had needed to spend a little bit of time modifying them since Shadow's belt was sideways compared to the way a thinker wore it. She made it so the pouches would face up while Shadow was walking on all of her legs.

Shadow had been fully prepared to have to walk around on her back legs to keep stuff from falling out of the pouches. However, once Annie had recovered from laughing at her unsteady toddling (Which wasn't very nice! She'd been trying her best!), she'd taken them off and fixed them.

This was was a lot more convenient. She did want to get better with back leg walking though. It didn't feel right at all, but having her forelegs free for doing stuff while walking did seem useful, even if her paws weren't as versatile as hands.

That was for later, however, because right now she was on mission 'fill these wonderful pouches with awesome stuff'.

She was also on a mission to find something to eat because her stomach was complaining at her, and the thinkers weren't both up yet as it was still dark out. Besides, Annie had already given her so much stuff she didn't want to ask for anything else, especially when she could hunt food for herself.

Oh! I can bring them food again! In one of the pouches!

She looked back again. Hmm. Perhaps a rabbit wouldn't fit in one. She might be able to get its head and shoulders in but its butt would be hanging out.

Oh well, she could just carry it in her mouth. The pouches would be reserved for more awesome trinkets!

She slinked her way towards the outdoor stream, eyes open for trinkets or burrows where she might find a meal. She was hoping she could find some good replacement shells or rocks, as she was starting to run low with all the trading.

It's going to be so much better with pouches!

She'd had to make so many tough decisions before when taking something. At best she could balance one or two things on her head and hold a few in her mouth as the swarm headed back to the cave. She hadn't even been able to do that since she got her acid spit (thankfully that problem was fixed now). She found so many things on her outings that she was always forced to choose.

Now she could choose everything.

Well, most things. It was going to be wonderful.

It didn't take long for her to start finding things.

She came across an interesting rock. In the pouch!

There was a faintly glowing moss. In the pouch!

Another pretty shell. In the pouch!

A vibrant mushroom. In the pouch! Carefully. Paws only, no tongue or mouth.

I'm not repeating the mushroom incident again.

She had to contort herself quite thoroughly to pull off that maneuver. It was easy for her to drop something in one with her mouth, but her legs didn't like bending that way.

She finally made it to the stream where the number of shells available increased dramatically.

It was a free for all for shells. She scampered from spot to spot, snatching shells with a cool spiral here, or neat speckles there. She didn't need to stress about it! She could take it all!

It wasn't long before her pouches were almost overflowing, clinking and clacking with any small shift in her posture.

Hmm.. This might be an issue for hunting.

She took a moment to glance around.

Or the opposite.

She was not going to be her normal perfectly silent self with all the shells she was carrying.

She'd probably need to head back and drop them off.

She spotted it right as she turned to head back. A shape dropping off a high branch, utterly silent.

Thank you, lessons learned in the day.

She wouldn't have checked before she saw what the terrors from the sky could do during the daytime.

She had figured they were all sleeping at night, but she had gotten in the habit of looking up, and it saved her.

And now she had a chance to turn things around. She tracked the dark shape out of the corner of her eye as is it swooped down, growing larger as it approached. She kept herself moving naturally, not wanting to tip the big bird off that she'd noticed.

It's so quiet!

It was quickly approaching, and she still couldn't hear anything, despite her knowing it was coming.

This thing is dangerous.

She tensed herself at the moment before it grabbed her, launching herself backward, not moving as fast as she'd expected. The great bird slammed into the ground in front of her. The grab had been a lot closer to landing than she would have liked. She hadn't accounted for the extra bulk her pouches were giving her.

Close, but not close enough.

She threw herself on to its back and laid into it, tearing out feathers trying to get a grip and biting for its neck.

Why are you so fluffy?!

"Umm. Sure."

He glanced back and forth between Shadow and Annie then grabbed the bird and started tearing the feathers off of it.

They both still looked a little nervous.

No need to be scared! It's still just me! Shadow thought with some concern.

She wasn't really sure what to do to calm them down. The surprise was having a much larger effect than she'd expected. She decided her best bet was to show off some of the pretty stuff she'd found. With a deft usage of her tongue, she got both pouches open quickly and flipped herself over to deposit her finds.

She started chasing Annie around, showing off the prettiest shells she'd found.

She hoped things would get back to normal soon.