kirabug's idea files

Day 792:

I have settled into skeleton horse ownership although I admit my brain stem is still jibbering with fear every time I mount it.

I suspect that’s normal. Or as normal as anything else here.

Mined more mountain today, and hit a good pocket of coal, so I’m set for fuel for a while. Or at least, burnable fuel. My food stocks are starting to get low again so at some point I’m going to have to expand my garden and grow more vegetables… or decide to rotate them a bit more when I eat them. The problem is that once one isn’t forced to eat pumpkin every day in a row, one doesn’t really want to do it… it’s a good thing to mix in carrots and potatoes and wheat grains.

I really wish this place had peas. I miss peas. And maybe corn. Not as much as peas.

Can’t say I miss the brassicas (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, etc.) at all….

Anyway, here’s a picture of my horse tethered to a horse post. The horse doesn’t have a name yet because I’m still stinging from having named Bob the Ducken ages ago and then promptly losing him. This place is hard on life.

Day 791:

I can confirm that there are at least two skeleton horses, because I had one to my left when I came out the eastern entrance this morning and one to my right. No picture because the weird crystal is not a panoramic weird crystal.

The one that was to my right was friendly, had a saddle, and may or may not have been the one that the skeleton was riding yesterday. Anyway, I mounted it and it very nicely took me over to the mountain. That by itself saved me like fifteen minutes so hey, horse “ownership” pays off immediately!

I let it wander while I mined. It didn’t mind all the hammering and banging and just grazed on the grass. (I guess skeleton horses eat? I haven’t seen any of the other monsters eat.)

(Or maybe they were once regular horses and habits are hard to break?)

(Yes, the grass falls right through the throat.)

At the end of the day I rode the skeleton horse back to the ranch area where I keep all my other animals. And the zombie pigs with the swords at the bottom of the pond. (Do they count as animals or monsters?) The skeleton horses got along fine with everyone else, so I left them there and headed inside for dinner and bed.

Tomorrow I’m going to put up a hitching post near the east entrance so I can get to my horse more easily.

I think this makes me a horse person!

Day 790:

On my way to the mountain today I was attacked by a skeleton (normal) riding armor (normal) shooting arrows at me (normal) FROM THE BACK OF A SKELETON HORSE (NOT NORMAL).

And I’m pretty sure it’s the same skeleton horse that’s been saying hello to me in the morning!

I WAS FURIOUS. WHICH WAS CONFUSING.

It’s not like it was my horse. I’m not even a huge fan of horses, though as a kid I was because what kid wasn’t? Pony rides were exotic.

But that skeleton had no right to ride that horse!

Or did it? Maybe it brought the horse in the first place? Maybe mounted skeletons were a normal thing around here? I can’t even tell anymore.

Instead of rationally running away, I ran toward the mounted skeleton and hacked it to pieces with my sword. Got a good arrow wound to the shoulder for my efforts, but the horse — still wearing a saddle, I might add — ran off.

Made me consider whether this is where  all the saddles in the river had come from. I do pull up bones almost as often as saddles when I fish.

ANYWAY. The horse escaped… and then later in the evening it came over to me to say hello.

It let me pet it. It let me mount it. It let me ride it.

It was a really weird end to the day.

I might grab some rope and see if I can capture it tomorrow. A nice horse is not something to turn my back on, especially if it can outpace exploding monsters.

Day 789:

To get to the mountain from the easternmost plains entrance, I have to go around (or through) a patch of dark forest and over a modest hill. I generally try to avoid going through the forest because it’s early, the monsters are out in earnest, and dodging trees while I run is not a good way to get the blood pumping.

Have I mentioned that I could really use some coffee?

Anyway, while I was cutting around the edges of the forest this morning, the skeleton horse stepped out in front of me. Scared the ducking heck out of me and it was all I could do to remember to take a picture to prove to myself that it wasn’t a trick of the light yesterday.

The skeleton horse, by the way, has a very odd whinny, like the sound of a horse as listened to through the sound of a blender.

After I took the picture I ran to the mountain and got my mining done. I didn’t try to approach it and it didn’t try to approach me and we were all good.

Maybe it’ll leave soon?

Day 788:

Every time I think I’ve figured this place out, it throws me off.

I got up extra early this morning to go out to the mountain and get mining, since my time outside was short yesterday. The sun wasn’t quite up yet, but I’ve gotten pretty good at dodging the monsters as long as I don’t have to do it for long periods of time.

THERE WAS A SKELETON HORSE IN THE FIELD.

ok, technically on the hill.

THERE WAS A SKELETON HORSE ON THE HILL.

At some point it appears that the absolute shock of skeletons existing had worn off because when I go outside I don’t start shouting at them. (That’s a good way to get shot by the skeletons, too.)

NOT THE SKELETON HORSE THOUGH.

MY BRAIN IS VERY UPSET AT THE SKELETON HORSE.

THERE WAS A SKELETON HORSE IN THE YARD.

I slipped past it and did my mining and came home without seeing it again, but my lizard brain won’t stop yelling.

THERE WAS A SKELETON HORSE IN THE YARD.

If I didn’t have the picture I’d think I dreamed it.

Even with the picture I’m hoping it was  a dream. Maybe it’s all a dream. But I’m having trouble getting to sleep either way.