The struggle continues

[Originally written July 6 2020]

The dumpster fire that is the Shee Ark continues to burn, with a fresh new round of deaths, and many, many Grendel eggs. It started on a high enough note, with Hermia pregnant! And then a slap fight broke out between one of the twins and Cleo. I do not know who started it, but they were both smacking away at each other. Both got detention in the workshop where I once again used the dummy to instruct them on not hitting each other. 

Soon after, Tybalt passed away in the Jungle. This death remains a mystery. There were no other creatures in the vicinity. The hoverdoc showed that he was neither hungry nor injured, nor did he have a trace of any sort of disease in his system. With Norns dropping like flies to violence, the last thing I need is mystery deaths.

Despite the birth of Miranda, the Norn population continued to go down; poor little Ariel met a violent end. I’m not sure what else I expected from a Grendel named for a man most famous for having betrayed and murdered Julius Caesar. Prospero died peacefully of old age in solitude in the Desert, but unlike the Norns, the Grendels were easily outpacing deaths with eggs. I had no fewer than three in my inventory. 

I really should have known better but I hatched one anyway, welcoming Beatrice into the world. Since they were both babies I figured it would be wise to introduce Miranda and Beatrice as quickly as possible, so perhaps they’d learn to get along.

I attempted to restore the Norn population by hatching another Treehugger. Horatio will be well-loved, even if at this point I’m jaded enough to not expect him to live very long.

Case in point being the tragic death of Hermia. If I had gotten there just a split second sooner…! I caught Brutus in the act, so I grabbed him and tried to pull him away, but he got one last punch in right as I got him, and that was the fatal blow.

Bengals are one of my favorites, up there with Chichis and Hardmen. Determined not to lose this breed, I hatched another. Naming him Yorick is probably tempting fate.

On an unrelated note, at some point I threw in the towel in my battle against the bees and simply removed the chili pepper pot from the Woodland, placing it out in the hallway instead. Cleo was apparently not a fan of this decision, since she went out to the Jungle to sample her favorite treat again!

The second mystery death in this session was Iago, who passed away in the Desert of unknown causes – again, no trace of injury, starvation, or illness. But honestly if I had to lose someone, I’m glad it was him. His claws will never claim another life. Nor will Antony’s, as he passed quietly in his sleep after a long but lonely life in the Meso. This brought my population down to five Grendels and four Norns, plus the two Ettins. 

Sadly, the Ark still had one more gut punch to deliver; Gertrude killed Mercutio despite my swift intervention. I hadn’t realized just how much damage she had done and thought it enough to scold her rather than pull her away. My mistake cost Mercutio his life.

The upside to Antony’s passing is that the Meso is now available to other creatures again since it’s no longer being used for solitary confinement. I’ll have to think on how best to put it to use. I’ve definitely noticed that while all Grendels have gotten violent toward the Norns, some of them have definitely been worse than others, which makes me wonder… could I try to selectively breed them for gentleness? Perhaps if I keep track of how many times I catch them beating the Norns and how many deaths they’ve caused, I can determine a system to airlock eggs produced by the more violent individuals…