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There's quite a lot of them, actually. Patrolling out here is hungry work and this is the first easy food there's been out here.
Oh huh what are all the other its doing. Something interesting? - No, it's just a food. Well, it's pretty hungry too; it'll join the rest of them. No sense in turning down a free lunch, especially in this economy.
She had some idea of trying to reconstruct the clapping game but she can't quite call to mind exactly how it went at the moment. She can manage... one clap?
. . . Huh. Is that - no it can't be, it remembers the Cleo being smaller and it has never seen a food suddenly change size. It's still interesting though, and even a food that's only like the Cleo is still the most interesting thing that's happened since the most recent time it went home. It stops nibbling her, obviously, and it REALLY WISHES it could make the other its do that too. Why do they have to ruin everythinnnnnnnng. It attempts a k-k-kh-kh-kh-khh-khhhhh in frustrated communication. . . . And, belatedly, copies the clap.
One of the other its looks even more inclined to ruin everything than the rest of them. It sweeps the closest, and is - definitely not going in for a full meal, but is maybe doing something stronger than nibbling.
- Normally that would be kind of interesting but now that is the WORST thing possible to do. It'll yell at that one.
Normally it would not want to do anything this likely to be the bad kind of interesting, but it's so fed up with being stuck in this one spot when there are interesting things right over there, and - it doesn't take the time to coalesce this into thoughts, and it's not sure it could even if it did take the time, but there's something about - it wants the bad interestingness even if it is bad because of the thing the maybe-badness will get it. It really really does not want the Cleo-ish food to get boringified more than it already is.
So: it will become the onk. It flies back a little ways and then zooms right into the worst it, whipping around to slam its legs into its torso. And then it zooms for the Cleo-ish food and picks it - well. A food is much heavier than a sponge, it turns out. Hmm.
The Cleo-ish food is not very heavy but is, yeah, heavier than a sponge. It squirms.
The idea of things being heavy as opposed to stuck is a new and somewhat difficult concept, but conveniently it is very smart and can figure things out very fast. It drags the Cleo-ish food along the ground a little before readjusting its grip (its arms going under the food's and wrapping around the food's middle from behind), and beginning a proper zoom.
The worst it is reeling from being onked but the rest of the group is not so easily left behind.
Zoom zoom zoom zoom - they're still following it??? It will have to be cleverer.
Maybe it will go in a direction it shouldn't go. It didn't see where the food came from but it's much more curious about the window place so it'll head that way. Swoop zoom.
. . . It drops the Cleo-ish food (only a few centimeters above the ground, but definitely not a set) and zooms around to its front.
Clap clap.
"It's me, Cleo, d'you remember me?" she asks, holding out her hands like she's pressing them to a window.
Which is when the castle doors burst open and a silver cat charges at the pair of them.
Unpleasantnesses are nothing to worry about for very smart beings who have learned how to not nibble, although it's a little weird that one is zooming. Handspress?
Handspress! "Wow, I'm glad you're not, like, wet and squishy, you're actually kinda dry. - hello?" she adds to the silver cat, which is hissing and spitting at the very smart being.
It is also experiencing pleasant surprises about the experience of touching a food! This isn't an onk at all. It was not really expecting it to be onkful, because it touched the Cleo-ish food to carry it and that wasn't, but it still could have been bad in some other way.
Hhhhhhhehhhhhllllllllllohhhhhhhhhh. (It's so good at that one; all of the mediocresounds in it are very easy.)
"Hello! Good job!" she squeaks deliciously.
The silver cat is so agitated! It hisses more and bats at robe-hems.