When Moriko had been asked to work out what had been digging through the trashcans, she had expected people. Silly, maybe, but usually when she ran into trouble it was with people.
However, the indications were very clearly not human. Humans did not have footprints that small. And clawed. (Usually anyway. Weren't there part-demon people around? But 'half-demon baby' seemed like a much less likely candidate to be raiding trash cans than 'wild animal.' So she dismissed it.)
Small, clawed animal could be a lot of things. It wasn't likely to be cats, including those weird angry yeowler cats--why would they go into trash? It definitely wasn't rabbits for the same reason. Raccoons? It was probably raccoons. They were fairly dangerous when provoked, so she wasn't entirely sure how to go about dealing with them.
An infestation of raccoons was the last thing anyone wanted, but she decided to double-check by taking a sketchpad, carefully copying several of the tracks in the dusting of sand over the stones, and bringing them to someone who would have reason to know animal tracks. Specifically, a pet seller.
"No, not raccoon I don't think," he said, studying the sketches. "Raccoons would have five toes. This looks more like a pangolin--you know, those little scaled things that look armadillos a li'l bit? Acorn-shaped scales?"
"That's what those are called?" She ruminated a moment. "Do they eat trash?"
"Ha! No, bugs." He handed her back the sketch. "If you've got pangolins rooting around your trashcans, you've got bugs eating your trash. Could be anything; pangolins are tough buggers and go after things you might think were out of their weight class. But get rid of whatever's drawing the bugs and you won't have pangolin problems anymore either."
"That works." She folded and tucked the sketch away in her pocket. "If I see a pangolin, is it a good idea to catch it and release it elsewhere?"
"Not really." The man gave her a serious look. "They're pretty docile creatures, but full of diseases. Don't touch them at all if you can help it."
And rooting around in the trash would definitely make them even moreso. "Okay. Good to know. Thanks."
So she had to work out what was attracting bugs, first. And what bugs there were. Trap one of those first, maybe?
"Do you have any traps so I can figure out what bugs are there?"
~
Moriko set up the several bug traps that were provided to her, with the warning that it wouldn't be any of Wind Country's larger native bugs that would be caught. Pangolins were small creatures, and didn't eat anything larger than a cricket or earthworm.
But why would there be crickets in the garbage?
She went to sleep with the assurance to her relations that she was working on it, and didn't detail the strange ecosystem that appeared to be developing in the local trash bins. What else would she find? Parasite-infected crickets?
But no, the traps came up mostly empty, mystifying her. Sighing, Moriko resorted to that last thing that she detested: going and talking to people. Namely, asking the people in the neighborhood if they'd been throwing out anything unusual since this had started.
Generally the answer was 'no'. Unsurprisingly. A few people were cagey about it, but faltered under a level 'I don't believe you' stare and generally admitted to something illicit or frowned on but not really illegal. So that was a bust.
Until...
"Yeah, actually," one neighbour said, scratching her head. She was a young-ish woman, mid-twenties, with red hair in a long braid down her back and a toddler clinging to her dress. "We were going to put a deck in after clearing out the back shed. But wouldn't you know it, the wood for the deck came in rotten, so we had to toss it after showing the supplier. My wife's down at the market right now with a piece trying to get a new set or a refund."
Rotting wood? A rarity in Wind Country, and expensive, but people in this area could afford it.
"Did you break it up and set it out over time?" Moriko asked, putting a few things together.
"Sure," she said with a shrug. "There was enough for a deck; there's a lot of it. Even got some of the neighbours to put some in theirs. Wait, you're not saying that drew in the thing that's taking the trash apart?"
"Maybe," Moriko said. "Can you show me the wood?"
The wood was neatly piled in the woman's backyard, and Moriko inspected it closely, even kicking it in one place with the heel over her boot to see if there was anything in any of the pieces. And...
"Termites," she pronounced.
"...How do termites knock over trash cans?" The woman asked after a moment, restraining the toddler from going to look at the little bugs scurrying around and darting back into the wood.
"They don't. The things that eat them and go looking for them do," Moriko said. "You should probably have this wood burned right away instead of thrown out. I can help you move it somewhere. Termites don't bite people," she added at the woman's skeptical look.
"After my wife gets back I guess," she said. "I definitely don't want things rooting through our trash looking for bugs!"
Moriko decided not to mention the 'disease-ridden' part. "That would be fine; it's not that urgent. Do you mind if I wait?"
It didn't take long for the wife to get back, a statuesque woman with short-cropped dark blue hair much like the mess on the toddler's head. The two of them had a conversation while Moriko kept an eye out for pangolins, but they didn't seem likely to surface with people around.
"I had no idea it'd be this much trouble to get a deck built," the wife said with a sigh and an apologetic shrug. "We might need to apologize to the neighbours. I know a place to burn garbage; if you could just give me a hand we can get this cleared up."
Moriko wasn't incredibly strong yet, but there wasn't overly much wood left and they were able to manage in a single trip. The man running the garbage burning yard was warned about the termites but didn't seem to think much of them, saying 'they don't bite or nothin'.' The two women thanked her when they were back at the house and sent her off with a small bag of brownies, which the redhaired one said they were likely to be baking for the people who'd had pangolin problems due to them.
Moriko was nibbling on a brownie in the shade of one of the clan buildings before training with her ice techniques when Tsukiya strolled in and dropped down next to her. She handed him the bag before he even opened his mouth.
"Hello to you too," he said, amused. "Did you bake these?"
"I don't bake," she said.
"What a shocker."
"They're from a couple down the way who accidentally caused the trash can problems," she continued, refusing to let her lips twitch into a smile. "Ever seen a pangolin?"
"...Can't say I have," he said after a second. She'd already told him about the trash can issue she was working on. "Sounds like you had a day. Want to spar in a bit?"
Moriko turned to him and regarded him thoughtfully. "Okay. After, I'll teach you weapon throwing if you show me that thing you do with the knife."
"Deal."
But for now, brownies and pleasant company.
[Word Count: 1329]
However, the indications were very clearly not human. Humans did not have footprints that small. And clawed. (Usually anyway. Weren't there part-demon people around? But 'half-demon baby' seemed like a much less likely candidate to be raiding trash cans than 'wild animal.' So she dismissed it.)
Small, clawed animal could be a lot of things. It wasn't likely to be cats, including those weird angry yeowler cats--why would they go into trash? It definitely wasn't rabbits for the same reason. Raccoons? It was probably raccoons. They were fairly dangerous when provoked, so she wasn't entirely sure how to go about dealing with them.
An infestation of raccoons was the last thing anyone wanted, but she decided to double-check by taking a sketchpad, carefully copying several of the tracks in the dusting of sand over the stones, and bringing them to someone who would have reason to know animal tracks. Specifically, a pet seller.
"No, not raccoon I don't think," he said, studying the sketches. "Raccoons would have five toes. This looks more like a pangolin--you know, those little scaled things that look armadillos a li'l bit? Acorn-shaped scales?"
"That's what those are called?" She ruminated a moment. "Do they eat trash?"
"Ha! No, bugs." He handed her back the sketch. "If you've got pangolins rooting around your trashcans, you've got bugs eating your trash. Could be anything; pangolins are tough buggers and go after things you might think were out of their weight class. But get rid of whatever's drawing the bugs and you won't have pangolin problems anymore either."
"That works." She folded and tucked the sketch away in her pocket. "If I see a pangolin, is it a good idea to catch it and release it elsewhere?"
"Not really." The man gave her a serious look. "They're pretty docile creatures, but full of diseases. Don't touch them at all if you can help it."
And rooting around in the trash would definitely make them even moreso. "Okay. Good to know. Thanks."
So she had to work out what was attracting bugs, first. And what bugs there were. Trap one of those first, maybe?
"Do you have any traps so I can figure out what bugs are there?"
~
Moriko set up the several bug traps that were provided to her, with the warning that it wouldn't be any of Wind Country's larger native bugs that would be caught. Pangolins were small creatures, and didn't eat anything larger than a cricket or earthworm.
But why would there be crickets in the garbage?
She went to sleep with the assurance to her relations that she was working on it, and didn't detail the strange ecosystem that appeared to be developing in the local trash bins. What else would she find? Parasite-infected crickets?
But no, the traps came up mostly empty, mystifying her. Sighing, Moriko resorted to that last thing that she detested: going and talking to people. Namely, asking the people in the neighborhood if they'd been throwing out anything unusual since this had started.
Generally the answer was 'no'. Unsurprisingly. A few people were cagey about it, but faltered under a level 'I don't believe you' stare and generally admitted to something illicit or frowned on but not really illegal. So that was a bust.
Until...
"Yeah, actually," one neighbour said, scratching her head. She was a young-ish woman, mid-twenties, with red hair in a long braid down her back and a toddler clinging to her dress. "We were going to put a deck in after clearing out the back shed. But wouldn't you know it, the wood for the deck came in rotten, so we had to toss it after showing the supplier. My wife's down at the market right now with a piece trying to get a new set or a refund."
Rotting wood? A rarity in Wind Country, and expensive, but people in this area could afford it.
"Did you break it up and set it out over time?" Moriko asked, putting a few things together.
"Sure," she said with a shrug. "There was enough for a deck; there's a lot of it. Even got some of the neighbours to put some in theirs. Wait, you're not saying that drew in the thing that's taking the trash apart?"
"Maybe," Moriko said. "Can you show me the wood?"
The wood was neatly piled in the woman's backyard, and Moriko inspected it closely, even kicking it in one place with the heel over her boot to see if there was anything in any of the pieces. And...
"Termites," she pronounced.
"...How do termites knock over trash cans?" The woman asked after a moment, restraining the toddler from going to look at the little bugs scurrying around and darting back into the wood.
"They don't. The things that eat them and go looking for them do," Moriko said. "You should probably have this wood burned right away instead of thrown out. I can help you move it somewhere. Termites don't bite people," she added at the woman's skeptical look.
"After my wife gets back I guess," she said. "I definitely don't want things rooting through our trash looking for bugs!"
Moriko decided not to mention the 'disease-ridden' part. "That would be fine; it's not that urgent. Do you mind if I wait?"
It didn't take long for the wife to get back, a statuesque woman with short-cropped dark blue hair much like the mess on the toddler's head. The two of them had a conversation while Moriko kept an eye out for pangolins, but they didn't seem likely to surface with people around.
"I had no idea it'd be this much trouble to get a deck built," the wife said with a sigh and an apologetic shrug. "We might need to apologize to the neighbours. I know a place to burn garbage; if you could just give me a hand we can get this cleared up."
Moriko wasn't incredibly strong yet, but there wasn't overly much wood left and they were able to manage in a single trip. The man running the garbage burning yard was warned about the termites but didn't seem to think much of them, saying 'they don't bite or nothin'.' The two women thanked her when they were back at the house and sent her off with a small bag of brownies, which the redhaired one said they were likely to be baking for the people who'd had pangolin problems due to them.
Moriko was nibbling on a brownie in the shade of one of the clan buildings before training with her ice techniques when Tsukiya strolled in and dropped down next to her. She handed him the bag before he even opened his mouth.
"Hello to you too," he said, amused. "Did you bake these?"
"I don't bake," she said.
"What a shocker."
"They're from a couple down the way who accidentally caused the trash can problems," she continued, refusing to let her lips twitch into a smile. "Ever seen a pangolin?"
"...Can't say I have," he said after a second. She'd already told him about the trash can issue she was working on. "Sounds like you had a day. Want to spar in a bit?"
Moriko turned to him and regarded him thoughtfully. "Okay. After, I'll teach you weapon throwing if you show me that thing you do with the knife."
"Deal."
But for now, brownies and pleasant company.
[Word Count: 1329]