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Adventures in Wyrmhandling
A daily (more or less) blog recording the adventures and misadventures of Verdana's squirm

15/07/2013
9:30 am
Today I arrived back at university. As soon as I re-entered residence, I made for the main desk. I'd been visiting that desk every day since Moosee first sent word of my new wyrm's departure. Days passed, then weeks, then a month. I started to worry. I started to panic. By the time I left for my winter vacation, I had almost lost hope.

"Package for Verdana?"
"Verdana of Internet?"
"Yes."
"I'll go get it."

The receptionist disappeared with almost-desperate haste. That old hope began to rekindle.
Was she -
Would she be -

The woman returned, holding - at arms' length - the most battered, bent, torn and tattered, filthiest box I had ever seen outside a rubbish bin. I swallowed. Surely nothing could be alive in such a...
The box twitched. It shook again. The receptionist thrust it out towards me.
"It came while you were gone. Take it."
Her eyes were panicked, and she spoke just a little bit too fast.
"Please!"

The box jerked in my hands as I ran up four flights of stairs. I fumbled with my keys, let myself into my bare room, and put the box down on the hard, narrow bed.
It was her.
It had to be her!
The big moment had arrived, yet I hesitated. Many people had cautioned me about the difficulties of raising a young growler. I had been handling Trixie for a good three months by then, but was I ready for this much larger, and more feisty, responsibility?

I tore open the tape, and before I could even open the box, a hazy blur of grey and white leapt for my hand. I screamed as sharp teeth pierced my palm, my fingers and my wrist, over and over and over again. The little creature growled and hissed and snarled and fought.

My wyrm has arrived, alright. And boy, is she angry.

11:40 am
My new roommate has caused quite a stir. Three people have now knocked on my door to ask if everything is alright. I don't dare let them in. Pets are not allowed in residence, and I can't risk her being discovered. Not right now.

Once she was done mauling my hand, she shot around the room frantically, searching - whether for safety or some lost or beloved item, I don't know. I tucked my knees to my chest on my bed, to protect my feet from the wyrm's wrath. I can still hear her, scrabbling and squiggling around.

I can't begin to imagine what she has experienced to make her so frightened.

1:12 pm
The new wyrm has taken refuge on the top of my wardrobe. She climbed it with astonishing agility. She hunches there now, in the darkest corner, beside my case, glaring at me.

Poor Trixie! She is so used to being an only wyrm! She slept through her new companion's arrival - tired out by her adventures in the game reserve, I'm sure - but she'll find out that she's not alone sooner or later.

Oh, I hope they like one another.

4:16 pm
I've just finished investigating the box that the growler came in.What a mess! I've never seen so many postmarks. If the stamps are right, the growler passed through the USA, some of South America, a good deal of Africa, and even stopped off in the Arab Emirates. Inside the box are the remains of many, many scraps. There are insects in there, and meaty traces. All that remains is one sad, wilted little piece of fruit, with toothmarks in its skin.

I think I'll keep it as a souvenir.

Moosee sent a note, too! It was torn to bits - no doubt used by the growler to make a nest - but I pieced together enough to read it.
4/10/2013
Verdana,
I hope you thoroughly enjoy your very first teacup wyrm, and I hope she has arrived safely in one piece!
Regards,
Moosee

Well, she's certainly arrived in one piece! Whether we'll enjoy each other or not still remains to be seen.

9:44
Chicken stirfry for dinner tonight. I did not miss residence food! I brought back some carrots for Trixie (she loves vegetables, in any form) and she woke up just long enough to munch them, before going back to sleep in the chocolate box she calls home. Trix is far more tolerant of foul food than I am!

Then it was a matter of feeding the growler.

I soon gave up on tempting her down. She won't budge, and from the sounds of it, she's tearing material off of my case to build a nest. I tried to offer her some chicken strips, but she snapped at my hand when I got anywhere close. I had to settle for leaving the chicken on the far side of the wardrobe.

I hope she eats tonight. Poor thing, she must be famished.

16/07/2013
4:40 pm
I had to take Trixie to lectures with me this morning. I didn't feel right, leaving her with the growler. Trixie is a tough little thing, but she's only a teaspoon wyrm, and the growler's teeth are sharp! Trix doesn't mind, though. She's quite used to travel. She sits quietly in her Godiva Chocolate Pearl box, where she is safe. She doesn't bother anybody, and she's easy to keep secret.

I wish I could say the same for the growler!

The chicken, which had remained untouched when I'd left for lectures, was gone when I came back. I'm not sure if the growler has eaten it or is hoarding it, but I take this as a good sign. I put some cornflakes up in the same place. Trixie likes cornflakes. Maybe the growler will too.

Trixie's starting to get curious. I don't think she knows that she's sharing her space with another warm, but she knows something's changed. I'm keeping her close.
Just in case.

8:00pm
I can't tempt the growler out. Not for food, not for toys. I've left a little pan of water up on the wardrobe, and more cornflakes and a bit of orange, but as soon as I even look in that direction, the growler hides in the darkest corner she can find, and the growling starts up. All I can see are her teeth as she bares them at me, but sometimes, when it's darkest, I almost think I can see a faint glow.

I don't even know what she looks like yet.



17/07/2013
2:12 pm

I think my socks are going missing.

I can only find one of each pair that I've been wearing. But that doesn't matter. The orange was eaten today (though the cornflakes haven't even been moved). Trixie came to lectures again, and when I got home, I looked for some rocks to make my new wyrm a habitat. I hope that, by giving her somewhere familiar to live, she'll settle down. The mountain is just outside her window. If she'd only relax long enough for me to show her, I'm sure she'd start to like her new home.

If only I could get her down from the wardrobe!

Trixie doesn't understand why she no longer has full reign over the bedroom. I can only let her play on my nightstand. I don't want her getting too close to the growler. The more I think about it, the more unlikely it seems that they will be friends.

It seems unlikely that the growler will be friends with anything, at this point.

18/07/2013
11:44 pm

I wonder if I'm cut out for mountain wyrm handling. When Trixie and I got back today, there were thin grey hairs around the bedroom. I think the growler has been exploring. But no matter what I do, I just cannot coax her down. She seems to be taking all the food I leave her (and if I'm not mistaken, she tucked into my mint humbugs while I was gone) but I am worried about her. What if she was wounded during the journey?

Trixie knows she is there now. Little Blue can't climb up the wardrobe (thank goodness!), she's too small. But she sits on the desk, staring up at the wardrobe, cheeping softly. She seems more curious than alarmed, but the growler has taken no notice of her.

The lights are off now. I'm going to bed.

But I could swear I see a glowing stripe behind my suitcase.