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+--- Thread: Dragoncrest Cliffs heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes (/showthread.php?tid=23548)
heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Mallaidh - October 16, 2017
Furi wakes the next morning feeling a little agitated but she’s not entirely sure where. Nothing sticks out of her mind to have been wrong but she’d tossed and turned all night, shifting at the slightest change around her. Her eyes are heavy but she forces herself to get up anyway and try to sort out the tension building in her shoulders.
The day is cool, the wind from the sea dropping the temperature a few degrees, and she’s thankful for the thick fur building around her neck and shoulders. The tundra runs through her veins and she does not bat an eye at the chill that nips at her toes. It does not explain her lack of sleep and sudden discomfort as parts of her skin feel… on fire. Her brows knit together and she groans, rubbing her shoulder and side against the nearest redwood, satisfying the urge to tear apart her skin for the time being.
The irritation doesn’t quite go away but she’s able to move back through the forest, locking on a scent of a wolf she hadn’t really met face to face. He’d been there each time the wolves had come together near Blixen and another. @Artaax, she thinks, and she continues to trail it until she finds him.
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Artaax - October 16, 2017
Birds were not easy prey. For as much time as he had spent hunting them, there were only a few types that he felt he actually had some sort of strategy for capturing. Those were mostly the ground-based ones, though he was feeling pretty close to making some headway on catching waterfowl. Birds of flight, however, were something else entirely. And so, of course, those were the ones he spent most of his time hunting.
For any who witnessed this particular hunt, however, they would be a little skeptical in thinking it was a hunt at all. Artaax was seated at the base of a tall tree with his muzzle pointed overhead. The limb forked into a few separate branches, but at the crossroads sat a nest. The boy stared shrewdly at this nest, which had long since been abandoned by the feathered family that had created it.
Had Bobby been around to witness this, Artaax would have been in for a seemingly endless onslaught of mockery. But since he was currently unaware that he was being stalked, the hompleia had given his focus completely to his silent analysis, thinking himself safe to assume that he would be spared from any judgmental witnesses.
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Mallaidh - October 16, 2017
It isn’t much longer that she finds it. Keeping himself firmly planted in place at the base of the tree made it easy to locate and she is quiet as she approaches. Furi does not want to startle him but he hasn’t move since she’d stepped within a few yards of him. Pale green eyes travel upward to try and figure out what he’s looking at but nothing in particular catches her attention. She tilts her head to one side and steps closer for a better look. Suddenly, she’s too lost in trying to find the thing he’s looking at that she doesn’t mask her footsteps and eventually halts nearby with her gaze firmly pointed skyward.
Her mouth parts and, without looking away from up the tree trunk, she asks, “what’s up there?”
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Artaax - October 16, 2017
Artaax's surprise didn't cause him to jump or even to flinch, but he did feel a jolt in his heart when he realized that he was no longer alone. He didn't lower his muzzle as she settled near him, only glanced sidelong at her with an appraising look. For as often as they'd attended pack gatherings together, it took him a moment to place her as the girl who had returned with the first search party. Her name escaped him entirely, so he settled with answering her question in lieu of a more formal introduction.
"A bird's nest," he answered, his dual-toned eyes flickering upwards again. In typical Artaax fashion, it was the only response he offered.
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Mallaidh - October 16, 2017
Artaax answers her question so smoothly that she doesn’t notice the movement to look at her. Instead, she scans back over the branches one final time until she spots what he’s been looking at. She doesn’t say anything right away, watching for a long moment only to realize nothing is really happening. Her ears cup forward to try and listen for any movement but she doesn’t know much about birds and their nesting habits. The silence that lingers between them after he speaks isn’t necessarily uncomfortable but it does surprise her she can’t take her eyes off the target. Her brows knit together after a moment and without breaking her stare, she asks another question: “is there something in it?”
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Artaax - October 16, 2017
Artaax was not foolish enough to think the conversation over from there. He knew only one other wolf who was as sparing with their words as he, and that was the heda. He never assumed that anyone else would be like he and his mother, so he wasn't surprised when the silence eventually lapsed as the girl posed another question. This time, he didn't spare her a glance as he responded with an even shorter answer than before, "No."
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Mallaidh - October 16, 2017
Furi hums quietly to herself when he answers a short no. She doesn’t take her eyes away from it just yet, contemplating why he might be staring at it and if she stares with him, perhaps she’ll find the answer. She waits. And waits. And waits a little more. Awkwardly, she shifts her weight and stands back up, deciding her neck now hurts more than her need to know the answers. ”Do you want it?” she asks, glancing over to the pale boys form, then back up at the nest. ”I can get it for you. I can jump higher than any tree, you know,” she tells him while a sly smile forms over her precious stoic features.
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Artaax - October 16, 2017
The silence continued long enough for Artaax to wonder if she had somehow managed to puzzle her way into understanding why he was staring so intently at an empty nest. It didn't seem like, but it also seemed unlikely that she would continue to sit there and not ask any further questions. Before he came to the point where he broke the silence himself, words spilled from her tongue once again. He took in a slow, deep breath at her first question, but held it when she continued shortly after.
Only after the girl finished speaking did Artaax lower his muzzle and turn to look at her, brows furrowed in thoughtful confusion. "You can jump higher than trees?" he repeated, his inflection remaining almost flat even though he meant it as a question.
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Mallaidh - October 16, 2017
It’s enough to get his concentration to break and she feels a little swell of pride. She hadn’t intentionally meant to break him away from what he considered work but it did seem pretty boring. There is still no amusement in his voice and some of her smirk fades away. She stares at him for a moment to try and gauge a reaction but he doesn’t offer much. Instead of further explaining—or proving it—she manages a single, simple, ”yes.”
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Artaax - October 16, 2017
She was smiling at him in a way that Artaax found to be peculiar. In the name of making this post a little longer and more enjoyable to read, let me just say that it was quite something that he hadn't already dismissed her out of the typical disdain he held for anyone who was not born of Drageda. I can't explain why he hadn't - not exactly, anyway. Maybe he had gained some glimmer of trust from his experience with the Redhawk wolves, or maybe he had simply grown up some during his time away from Drageda. Maybe because, unbeknownst to him, he was succumbing to the intrigue of a pretty girl for the first time in his life.
But whatever the reason, he didn't roll his eyes and shoo her away as a liar for the absurd things she was spewing from her mouth or for that somewhat smug look on her face. Instead, he just gazed at her shrewdly and said, "Prove it."
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Mallaidh - October 16, 2017
The few seconds it takes for him to answer, Furi is sure she is going to burst with laughter. His words are skeptical, and he demands she prove it, and it almost pushes her over the edge. Instead, she clears her throat to bite back the urge and the smirk quickly returns. ”Easy,” she says with a sudden wave of confidence she hasn’t felt in a long time. Maybe she’s grown too. Maybe she’s glad to have a family again. ”Trees can’t jump,” she finally says and she snorts out a laugh she’d been holding in. As if to prove, Furi dramatically jumps and then turns expectantly to the tree, as if waiting for it to do the same.
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Artaax - October 16, 2017
His ears twitched as she gave her answers, and his eyes watched the movements that accompanied it. His expression was blank and impassive from start to finish in spite of how very pleased with herself she seemed. He glanced from girl to tree as she settled an expectantly gaze upon it, and then back again as the tree - not surprisingly - did nothing. A beat passed, and then another, before finally the boy parted his lips to speak.
"So... you can't jump higher than trees?" Artaax said flatly, allowing his annoyance at being distracted from his clearly super important work to show.
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Mallaidh - October 16, 2017
The tension thickens the air and Furi slowly turns to look at him. He isn’t laughing and instead, he doesn’t seem to get the joke. She blinks a few times, completely facing him now so she can try to explain it. How did he not get it? It was funny! ”No, it’s.. it’s a joke. Get it? Trees can’t jump.” Furi laughs awkwardly after that, hoping to encourage him to understanding but she’s not so sure. She hadn’t expected him to be such a stick in the mud so her laughter dies down after a few seconds, waiting to see what will happen.
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Artaax - November 10, 2017
Artaax's deadpan stare continued for a few, long seconds after Furi explained the joke to him. Her discomfort was palpable, and yet the boy couldn't find it in himself to ease the stress for her at all. He was trying to solve a problem here, and all she could do was speak nonsense to him. Maybe a younger, less serious version of him could have enjoyed her humor and more light-hearted nature, but this one merely blinked at her, and then looked back up at the nest that was vexing him so. Stick in the mud, indeed.
RE: heaven will be a grand piano of baked potatoes - Mallaidh - November 11, 2017
Despite her efforts to explain the joke, Artaax doesn’t do anything but stare at her. Awkwardly, she shifts her position, swallows a new lump in her throat, and glances around. Blixen would have liked the joke. After a moment, he looks back to the nest she’d found him staring at and he doesn’t bring his gaze back in her direction. Her ears fall back and a sting pricks the back of her eyes. Her cheeks burn with a mix of embarrassment and hurt and she doesn’t know what to do but step back in defeat. Furi doesn’t want him to see how much he upset her, either, and so she sets her jaw and tries to fight back whatever emotion rushes to the forefront of her mind. Maybe one friend isn’t enough to keep her around when it is so evident that Drageda is not the place for her. She licks her lips and shuffles back, leaving him to stare at the nest while she disappears to sort out her feelings.
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