Tiny Horses

So, I played Creatures for several hours on Saturday 21.07.12. It was nice to just relax at home and get to know and care for each one of my Norns after a busy week.

The goal for this game is one that I have set for myself. I decided that I want to try and breed a population of just Horse Norns (or somewhere I saw them called Little Devil Norns...maybe because of the horns on the boys' heads??), and see if I can make it all the way to generation 100. The other challenge was to use Norns that I downloaded from the Creatures Caves adoption section, so I don't really know how many generations they are or what I'm really starting out with except that I loved the two on there that had the dark chocolate-mud fur plus I needed all the Horsies I could get.

One is named Aurn and the other is named Chrissie. Those are the two with the very dark fur, but Chrissie won't show up until later. Right now we have Aurn and Blondini, whom I usually refer to as Blondie because it's shorter and easier to say.

But let's begin at the beginning.

A warm and gentle day in Albia, and here are my two cute Horses playing around the pink lemonade vendor with a bouncy rubber ball. (Well okay, Blondie is looking at me, but...they love this ball, really!)

Both of them have made a trip through the garden and wandered around the world a little, and Aurn surprised me by coming down with an illness not long before they trotted back here.

Fortunately it was not serious and lots of coaxing to eat plenty of food, combined with copious amounts of tickles and a few shots from the science kit had him back on his wee paws in no time. The only problem with that was that somehow, after his wonderful recovery which had me smiling in relief, both he and Blondini decided to become fussy eaters instead. I discovered a few other things raising Aurn as well: he has a thing for plants. I mean, really, really has a thing. At one point I couldn't get him to eat anything BUT plants and when he was a baby he kept eating the two weeds in the garden bridge even when I told him 'no' and tapped his bottom. XD It was both amusing and exasperating all at once, but he built up his immunity to them quick enough. The other thing about him is that he seems to become angry when playing with toys. I mean, his boredom decreases and he's smiling, but he's also tapping his foot going 'Aurn angry'. I'm not sure what's with that . He's my special guy. Lol. <3

I'm making sure there's a lot of food and toys in the world so that Norns can be more self sufficient, but still, when they won't eat it is worrying...

So far, we started out with bananas, (growing on the very amusingly un-banana-like tree near the wishing well at Lovers' Leap, where the Laburnum bush lurks - a tasty treat to tempt my creatures away before they decide to snack on the pretty flowers it bears), lots of muddy swamp carrots in the area near the cave where the submarine docks, pink fizzly lemonade for when the crackling fireplace becomes too hot and stuffy in that balmy Albian sunshine, safe bees that won't sting curious Norns, a doughnut vendor on The Island (you know the one I'm talking about - the only one in Albia) up the top half where the umbrellas are, and down in the viewing window there's a bunch of garden strawberries because my Grendel has to eat too.

Hmm...did I miss anything? Already I think I am making it too easy and my Norns are pampered pussycats. Oops, I mean...ponies. XD

So that's how we start out - oh, and a handy dandy Super Speech Toy! This teaches more words than the learning computer, to more Norns, faster, and with words such as feelings that usually would be impossible to teach (i.e hot, cold, hungry, bored...) So I can understand what they mean when they tap their tiny foot-paws and go "Aurn Bibble..." Translates to "Aurn bored..."

Aha! XD Mystery is solved.

I kept playing with these two, helping them discover the world they live in and bringing them to meet each other now and then, waiting with joyful anticipation when they would both be old enough to welcome their first egg...

Unfortunately, this was not to be as, much to my dismay, it turns out that although she grew up to be a beautiful and healthy Norn, my Blondini is infertile - proven by the fertility kit and the science kit. Drats. No teeny Horse babies trotting about, but at least the two are childhood friends. Aurn and Blondini remind me of a brother and sister every time they get together. They chat, play with the ball and are very affectionate.

So at that point I thought 'oh what the hey - the more the merrier' and imported the rest of the Norns waiting to enter Albia. Meet the lovely Dawn. This little girl has grown up beautifully, whomever she had as an owner in her previous world has taught her so well; she eats, rests, plays all on her own, even in a crowd of other critters she finds the time to munch down a few carrots or a honey pot. She's so good. ^_^ Here she had some cheese and hooch, but she stopped at one can. Like cheese and wine time, it seemed to just relax her enough to have a nice sleep before she moved to the music room to play some tunes. What a smart cookie.

Blondini wasn't forgotten in place of a new lady though; she went off roaming Albia on her own and had some fun on the...raft? Is that what this thing is? It's a raft, right? Lol. A pile of logs that floats and has little wheels on the bottom and a switch on either side - yeah, let's stick with 'raft'.

The wee smile she gave was just priceless while holding onto that seedling. Happy as a carrot. :D Just reminds me that sometimes the simplest things in life are the best of all.

With some new females and males in the world, it was a pleasant (and welcome) event to find the first egg in the world. Belonging to none other than Dawn and Aurn. I really love this pair together. Aurn isn't the best eater and in fact sometimes he's a downright fuss-pot, but Dawn is such a good girl I just know their baby has good chances. After all, Aurn is a fuss-bum but he settles down and eats eventually when he gets some peace and quiet...and Mummy isn't asking him to push food, look food, get food...'FOOD'...

You know, I think they do it on purpose, just because they can. A game tip does say to think of them as something close to a two year old child. Ahaha.

Their egg, in all it's blue spotted crispy shell! Isn't is so pretty? I was so happy to see this egg, you have no idea. Prior to this, getting back into the game I had horrible luck with too many CoBs and many world crashes, losing all my creatures on multiple tries. But I didn't want to give up and this little egg made me really glad I decided to start it over one last time.

A real treat and a sweetheart popped out but you aren't going to meet them till later, because I have someone else to show off first.

This is Chrissie, the darling with the dark fur I mention earlier at the beginning. She loves to play, play, play until worn out and I discovered she has a thing for carrots. Especially the muddy ones. She's one of the two breeding females in my world (not counting Blondini), along with the one breeding boy, although I did import another to keep them company, only to realise he was, well, how about I just show a screenshot instead, okay?

See his age there? He is well and truly infertile in my world now. I had no idea how old he was when I downloaded him but I don't mind. He's like the vampire that outlives all the humans. Ahaha! Holds his age perfectly.

It's a little hard to see but this guy here with my Grendel is SweetHeart, and he lives up to his name. He is super friendly, loves to wander, and has no qualms about hanging out with a guy who can't help (literally can't help because I don't know where to find the CoB that makes Grendels be able to be nice and not do it) hitting and punching his fluffy pal. They usually ride the lifts together and chow down on strawberries and doughnuts. I make sure to go back and play with the ball or the radio with them so they don't become bored. Somehow, they forget how to play with toys when they are too absorbed with each other.

I know this entry is way too long so I'll leave you with something humorous. The Norns are all outside in the garden playing with the ball, and poor (well, I'm not sure if this is Dawn or Blondini) but she is all left out because no one is sharing. They are hogging it like hogs.

So what does my smart cookie do? Grab the ball and run for it! It was much much fun to watch!