[FrostWynd]

Not like he even planned on giving them one anyway. Bernie didn't want to get involved any further in this nonsense and flopped back down onto the hay with an audible sigh. "She's probably just hassling someone else right now..." He mumbled while trying to make himself comfortable again. It made the most sense since that's all she wanted to do when she came to bug him earlier, just talk endlessly about this "poor lost animal" until his ear fell off!

[FrostWynd]

Except... the more Bernie thought about it - because of course that's what he'd be doing while trying to go back to sleep - something about that explanation didn't quite feel right. There was something else before that she said too, wasn't there? That last comment she made when she left...

What did she say again?

There would be a low rumbling in his throat as he tried to remember. Even his tail started twitching from the effort.

And then it came to him.

[FrostWynd]

His eyes would shoot open when Shelly's words suddenly hit him. She wanted to see it! That's it!

Did that mean she wanted to see it so badly, that she randomly went off to go find this animal herself?

"Aw heck..." Now he was getting that bad feeling in his gut, the one that was telling him there was probably going to be trouble of some sort if that truly was the case. Somewhat reluctantly he forced himself back up, now staring out in the direction of where the other Kuhna had gone.

[FrostWynd]

Maybe he ought to go tell them what he'd heard? Even though he reaaaally didn't want to. Because that would mean admitting to the fact that he actually did see her, and he just knew he'd seriously get yelled at for basically lying to them. Not to mention he was sure he'd get forced into helping look for her to make up for it or something.

But if he chose to do nothing at all, then...

This was turning into one massive headache for him.

[FrostWynd]

Neither of those options were really working for him as he thought about it.

If something bad did happen because he didn't do something, that for him would be even worse to deal with. So as annoying as it was, Bernie knew he couldn't just sit around here doing nothing.

He was going to have to find her himself.

Although he had absolutely no idea where to even start or how he was going to accomplish it, one way or another it has to be done. So with one more complaint under his breath about how annoying this was, he forced himself to get off that hay bale and start looking.

[FrostWynd]

After one good, and a little unnecessarily long, stretch, the Kuhna left the comfort of the barn to only walk a little ways before he needed to stop to seriously consider how in the heck he was going to approach things to find Shelly.

From what he'd been told earlier, the other animals around the farm were most likely not going to be of any help whatsoever in this search, as the other Kuhna had already attempted to ask around beforehand about her whereabouts...

[FrostWynd]

But maybe... he wouldn't have to start there. Honestly, as much as Shelly liked to come and bother him way more frequently that he would've liked, Bernie would've been totally useless in a typical situation of a lost animal. Normally you'd try sometime like a favorite spot first when someone was missing, and thanks to him constantly ignoring her, there was no way he'd know where she liked hanging out.

Thankfully this wasn't such a situation, as the other lost animal that everyone was always talking about was the biggest clue here.

[FrostWynd]

As he started connecting some dots in his head, Bernie couldn't help but groan at where his train of thought was starting to lead him.

The rumors surrounding the lost animal were... extremely messy and totally all over the place. It was all so jumbled to the point that he started having doubts about his ability to follow the line of rumors to try and find Shelly. But... as much as he hated the idea, as it would involve more effort than he wanted to put forth, this feeling he had wasn't going to go away anytime soon. Shifting his attention up towards the sky, Bernie could see that it was getting to be about lunchtime soon, so the last thing he needed right now was something to spoil his appetite!

[FrostWynd]

The first thing he'd do is pay a visit to the flock of Yingshee that were hanging around nearby the barn, as Shelly originally mentioned something ridiculous about the animal being one. When he asked if they knew anything about this take on the rumor, they collectively bleated to one another, only to eventually turn their strange looking eyes back to him and shake their heads.

One of them would go on and claim that there was no way that the animal was a Yingshee! Not only had they never heard that version of the rumor, but their kind always liked to stick together. Having one get lost would be impossible!

[FrostWynd]

When they'd talked about it, the flock all agreed that this odd 'hairless' detail might've meant that Bernie had to have been looking for an Aries. A much less woolly animal that could likely be mistaken for one of them. Which... Bernie thought was maybe plausible, the horns of an Aries were kind of similar...

But then they started getting into what they'd heard about the rumor, and the entire flock started getting into a disagreement over it, as there were at least three different versions that had made its way to them.

One could imagine the irritation this brought Bernie as he had to sit there listening to all this bickering.

[FrostWynd]

Things would quickly become a nuisance when it became clear that nobody would be coming to an agreement anytime soon, and Bernie had to slip away unnoticed before they wasted anymore of his time.

Already he didn't feel any closer to finding the animal or Shelly. But he knew there were still other groups that he could still talk to. The first of which that seemed like an even better bet to try, were the wise Penticorns out at the stables.

[FrostWynd]

Although Bernie could acknowledge that the Penticorn were a more knowledgeable and well-travelled species, with the distances they could reach on those powerful legs and their ability to see far and wide thanks to their impressive size (compared to a Kuhna, at least), there was one thing about them that he absolutely disliked. Around here, they're treated extremely well, and that easily made them big-headed with their high and mighty attitude... So his decision to go see them was not an ideal choice, but it was the best one he had at the moment.

[FrostWynd]

When he got there, it would require every single ounce of his already limited patience to work through all the formalities and complimenting that these horses constantly desired. (Even if they didn't openly admit to wanting lots of attention.) The latter of those two things would prove to be the most difficult, as Bernie didn't give a Rattegan's tail about how pretty their manes or coats supposedly were!

Once he'd gotten through all the stupid hoops and hurdles required to please them though, he did start asking his questions, and sharing what he'd found out from the Yingshee.

[FrostWynd]

Those earlier three rumors would have things to do with like... a deadly blood-sucking Mocha Picchu, a dream stealing Ferrikoon, and some kind of freakish two-headed Skyllard, or something along those lines. There were more to these rumors of course, but obviously Bernie didn't really care, and only concerned himself with the more important details of what kind of animal this was meant to be.

The Penticorn eagerly got into gossiping among one another about this information that the little cat had kindly brought them.

[FrostWynd]

He would attempt to listen to various bits of the different conversations going on around the stables as the rumors got passed along, and then compared to others that they've already heard before. Nothing would come across as apparent enough to warrant his full attention though, and it was becoming clear that he couldn't follow every single one very accurately without missing plenty of others. Bernie even started feeling like he was getting completely lost among it all that it was really starting to give him a headache. There turned out to be way more rumors about this lost animal than he originally thought!

[Wild Pet Found]