Cleoh the Smokemuth

67 of 419
Cleoh
100% Happy
Owner
essaeren
Stolen
18 Jan 2020
Hatched
10 May 2021
669 +1
Views
197 +1
Clicks
132
Feeds
0
Items Collected
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Song Weaver
Cleoh stared out the window at the vibrant lush forests in the distance, far past the brown mucky wastes where she was kept. A cracking of a whip drew her back to the loom stand. "Child! Don't think I don't see you! Next time, it'll be a welt on your cheek!" screeched Mrs. Balaby.
"Yes Mrs. Balaby," mumbled Cleoh. She stood with the rest of the rag-tag bunch children. Together, they made quite a picture. They were dressed in coarse, badly woven cloths that could have and were simply vegetable sacks with armholes. They were grimy, and so were their surroundings. In fact, the only people clean were Mrs. Balaby and her daughter who the children called Miss B. She was sitting at a loom with her back to the children, directly in front of them. Miss B was old in the eyes of the children, but she was only a few years past her teens. Mrs Balaby had always bragged that Miss B would marry rich for her talents. Although she was clean, and thin, Miss B was also as mean as her mother. No suitor had ever asked for her hand, and she was less talented than either of them liked to admit.
"Well? Sing rats, sing," snapped Miss B. The children were less afraid of Miss B, but Mrs Balaby was a constant threat. The children mustered their courage and looked to Cleoh. She started with the beginning of their most simple song.

"Gentle is the river, winding round bends.
Lovely is the duckponds where it ends.
Burbling softly, as if to make amends.
Gentle is the river, winding round bends."

About Smokemuth Eggs

Smokemuth eggs are one of the least-researched eggs on all of Ark and with good reason too: upon exposure to even the mildest breeze, they collapse into a pile of soot and dust. This unfortunate tendency has frustrated and turned away all save the most persevering Arkians. What little is known of Smokemuth eggs is their tendency to turn up in dark, dusty areas, as well as the two small appendages resembling antennae that can be glimpsed through the perpetual dust storm raging around the egg upon closer inspection.

About the Smokemuth Creature

Juvenile Smokemuths are rather dull and uninteresting, being a fat, grey, legless grub easily mistaken for rather dusty statues. This stage however does not last long, and it is widely speculated that a young Smokemuth's lack of movement is to conserve energy for their impending transformation.

The Smokemuth's radical pupation is one of the myriad of mysteries that has puzzled many leading scientists of Ark. Two of the more obvious sources of confusion are how the sedentary larvae pupate so suddenly and the seemingly-counterproductive hard, crystalline material they produce that ensconces the juvenile within seconds. The crystals are smooth, extremely durable and cold to the touch, with sharp edges that seem to stick out every which way. When a sample was analyzed, the "crystals" are found to be extremely similar in composition to Rencup ice, which generated a theory amongst the citizens of Ark that Smokemuth eggs were frozen in the wild to keep them intact until they hatched. Even if the Science and Research Center in Ark City dismisses said theory, an increasing amount of Arkians have taken to freezing or stowing their Smokemuth eggs in a freezer, which not only protects the egg's structural integrity but also causes no damage to the larva.

Adult Smokemuths are a truly magnificent sight to behold — the same shards that once surrounded their unmoving forms during pupation become a pair of wings that allow Smokemuths to take flight. They now possess legs but keep them retracted while airborne. Although the fact that Smokemuths can fly despite the supposed density of their icy wings raises a few eyebrows, it is nowhere near the fascination Smokemuth egg and larvae are held in.

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