Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma

ooc: I was looking up the meaning of the word "chip", when I found a site, which actually deals with abbreviations of all kinds. This seemed hilarious to me. @FitzDutiful

Last week had brought a pleasant change in Osprey's life - Atticus had finally awakened from his odd, sleep-like state and talked to Willow - and even though she herself had yet to meet him, the joy for his recovery brought light to every little thing that she did. Be it the dreams of their childhood or some precious moments that had taken place later in life or while doing something useful - such as digging you caches - she would hum a melody that was very far from sounding good, yet endearing at the same time.

Today Osprey was wandering on the outskirts of Plateau's territory, looking for a prey to have for a meal and bring for her brother as a gift. While walking and sniffing, she would sometimes interrupt the silence with a quiet chuckle and then have a gleeful look around, as if wondering, if anyone else had got the joke. Then she would move on, focus on her job, yet smile would never leave her lips.

FitzDutiful was out on this particularly pleasant day, in search of a wolf to talk to. He was still undecided as to which skill was the best for him to tackle first - Counsellor or Chronicler. He felt like he had a good chance at either, or even both, but no matter which he needed a wolf to concentrate on.

And so, on his search, his ears picked up the faint chuckle that Osprey produced. Wandering closer, he saw her glance around after one of these chuckles and tried to make eye contract, albeit very brief, with her. He could tell she was higher ranking. Not by much but, still, that one rank was all that counted. She was in a completely different league to him.

"Hello," he ventured softly, though not so faint as to be unheard, it was more to not startle. "Can I help you with anything?" Maybe he should go for Counsellor over Chronicler if this was how he started a conversation.

Osprey had never been one of those wolves, who was career or rank-driven. She had been rather comfortable always being somewhere in the middle tiers and the only thing that she expected was that the younger wolves respected the elders no matter the rank. Because there was one thing your high rank couldn't offer you, if you raised to it too quickly - it was experience. Therefore she met the young wolf with a smile and confidence. She did break the distance between them to have a good sniff at him and thus remember his scent forever, but this didn't take too long. Soon she had retreated and tilted her head to the side, listening, what the fellow had to say.

"Me? No, not at this moment," she replied truthfully. She rarely needed any help at all. "Is there anything I could do for you?" Osprey asked a question, deciding that she must be a dutiful pack-mate.

I.... um... I'm not sure." FitzDutiful was flustered when the conversation question was turned back upon himself. Did he need help? "Maybe I do..." he ventured before pausing for a moment.

How to phrase this. He wanted to be sure and self confident with his words but there really was no way to ask the question and give that impression. So it was with a deep breath that he asked his better what she thought of his personal situation.

"I'm unsure of which skill to develop. I like the idea of both Counsellor and Chronicler but, to be honest, I don't really understand what is involved with either or which, if either, I have a chance of obtaining." Suddenly it was easier to look at the floor, was there something interesting to look at by his toe?

Fitz's shyness was adorable and Osprey's old "spinstery" heart was moved. She smiled sincerely and looked at the young male in a tender manner. "If that makes you feel any better - I have no idea what each of the trades mean either," the concept of trades was still obscure to her, since she liked to do a lot of things and couldn't see herself doing only one of them. "So don't you worry - your trade will come along eventually," she reassured him. "Or you will invent an entirely new one."

"What's your name?" she decided that introductions would make the young lad be more comfortable around her.

"Thank you," Fitz responded to her words. Maybe this is what it meant to be a councillor, it seemed like a good start. He wondered if this would count towards his councillor trade, learning what it meant to be one. Surely that was valid training.

"FitzDutiful", was the dutiful response from his mouth in response to Osprey's question. "It's nice to meet you. And you are...?" he queried politely with a sudden realisation that those two statements were the wrong way around.

Seating himself on the ground, FitzDutiful looked around at the scenary and reminded himself how happy he was to be here. It was such a beautiful land that he had stumbled into and he wondered if Osprey knew much about it. "How long have you lived here?" he asked, "I was wondering if you had any stories about the pack or the lands." The explanation flew swiftly in his next breath in case she think he was some psycho stalker.

Not only the young male was cute, his name was interesting too. "Fitz" and "dutiful" - Osprey wondered about the odd choice of the name, but it passed the fellow really well. He was an extraordinary individual and it was amazing, how little time she had needed to learn to like him and form feelings that one feels for a younger sibling. Care and need to help and protect. Of course, it was not like Osprey was going to shower him in unbearable bouts of affection.

"Osprey - I won't tell you my family name, because it is long and complicated. I am Peregrine's sister," she rarely mentioned her full name to anyone. Her name did the job really well. "Pleasure is all mine," she dipped her muzzle slightly and offered him another smile. "Not very long," she admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "But the pack is new from what I have heard, so if you want to hear bits and pieces of the exact history, you can go and ask Perry. He should know, since he is the leader."

"Going for the lorekeeper?" she asked out of interest, since a prospect of meeting another avid storyteller and listener was always tempting.

"I'm thinking of it," FitzDuitiful replied seriously. "I was hoping to get to talk to Perry to get some information on the pack history in order to expand my knowledge of that aspect. I think I'm also going to go for the Counsellor. I like to think I can help people through any issues and give them advice. I may not be old but I try to think from other people's perspectives."

An itch had suddenly irritated his left ear and so he twisted around to deal with it in a very appropriate manner, while talking. As he placed his leg back on the floor his words came to an end and he turned the question back onto the person he was talking to. "Are you learning lores and stories? Do you have any you could share or titbits of advice, if so?" If Osprey was also a budding storyteller then maybe he could let her practice her stories while, himself, picking up on storytelling techniques.

Two birds, one stone.

Fitz spoke so earnestly that Osprey thought it would be plain cruel to chuckle at his desire to advise people at his young age. From her experience - people rarely wanted someone to advise them. Rather they needed someone, who listened to them and told to "go for it", because no matter, what advise you gave them, they would still do the way they wanted. Or on the contrary - they grew too dependant on you and it was too much of a responsibility to carry. Meaning, one's life was complicated enough to take the burden of the other's too. But she comment anything on it, just looked just as serious as him, listened and nodded. After all, what did she know of him? Maybe he was a gifted councellor?

"You don't learn stories - either you pick them up from others or make them up yourself," Osprey shrugged. She had never learned story-telling, because it had come very naturally to her. "Alright... have you heard about a game called Round-robin?" if anyone was a beginner in story-weaving, then this was the good way to begin.

I know it's been a while, sorry for that - do you want to wrap this thread up?

Osprey asked about a game called Round Robin and FitzDutiful just shook his head. He had no idea what this game was or how to play it. In some ways he was looking forward to playing a new game, in others he was a bit wary. New things had a chance to make you seem stupid and Duty hated to feel stupid or silly. It had always seemed to him that there was a fine line between learning and feeling ignorant though he wasn't sure what the difference was between them.

Patiently, FitzDutiful awaited the instructions on how to play Round Robin. He wasn't sure if they would get to play it now or if it was something he could practice on his own with anyone. He felt like he had already made great headway with learning his Chronicler trade - the main information being that he could make up his own stories or learn them from other wolves. He hadn't known of this before. He had always thought that story-tellers learnt how to tell stories, maybe some did but maybe most learnt through practice and listening.

ooc: @FitzDutiful
If you don't mind, I would rather have it longer. To make it to my 100 fairy-tale challenge. 5 - 7 posts more from each of us and then?

FitzDutiful looked a little wary, when he silently agreed to engage in Osprey's favorite story-telling game. She gave him an encouraging smile and explained: "This is totally easy and the great thing about is that you can never get it wrong." Each continuation of a story - no matter, what kind - could make it even better. Twisted, odd with a bad excuse of a storyline, but always a lot of fun. Unless the other party felt so embarrassed and unsure that it ended the game too quickly. She hoped that her packmate wasn't this case.

"All right - the point of the game is making up a story together. I will start with a sentence or a whole paragraph and then I will leave it up to you to decide and tell, what happens next. Is it clear so far?" she asked, perking her ears forward and waiting for Fitz's response. "So... There was once a mysterious island. Unlike the rest of the islands on the Earth it didn't rest in the water, but floated in clouds. On this island lived many curious creatures and one of them..." she stopped and waited for the young wolf to continue.

I'm the worst! I wanted to reply this over the weekend and then got caught up in holiday plans and Disney films >_<

Osprey assured Fitz that the game was easy and there was nothing to do wrong along with some instructions and he just nodded while waiting for her to start. He wasn't sure that he would have the imagination required for this task - hopefully that wouldn't be the case.

She started with a tale of an island, a mysterious one, that lived in the clouds with many creatures aboard it. FitzDutiful was just getting into this when she stopped. It took him a few seconds to remember that he was supposed to carry it on before he took a deep breath to continue. "was a big, pink wolf." he began, the feel for the story beginning to come to him. "He watched over all the other creatures, but his main mission was to..." he paused. He knew where he wanted this to go but remembered that it was a joint game. He wasn't allowed to make it all up by himself.

It took all his willpower to let Osprey take the next go.

Osprey's smile grew wider, when she saw that Fitz had also got the thrill of the game. The round-table story-telling was one of her favorites, but there weren't that many people, who wanted to play it. In her old pack most people didn't even understand her infatuation with things that weren't real and probably had never happened. It was a nice change that her packmate was willing to give this game a try.

"... herd rain-monkeys, which were small and agile creatures with very long tails, who liked to tickle heavy rain-clouds. When they did, the cloud began to laugh and a shower of rain was released to the Earth below," she had no idea, what could monkeys look like, but that was the point of the story. One should fill all of the gaps with their own imagination. "However one day the big pink wolf, who was called..." she let Fitz continue.

Darn it, FitzDutiful found he was struggling with coming up with a name for the big pink wolf (also what were monkeys? He'd heard of a key before so maybe they were strange things used to unlock stuff). In the end he remembered what Osprey said and after a brief pause just went with the word that came into his head. "Ilbert, decided to use a monkey in order to unlock the secret door. This door was sky coloured and near invisible unless you knew it was there. Behind the door was..."

With a smile Fitz realised that he was enjoying this game. It wasn't as hard as he thought it was going to be and it was more fun that he'd ever realised possible. Maybe he would be better at storytelling than he had thought possible. If this was all that was involved, of course. Then again, he was sure that there was more to it than just making up stories on the fly. He felt like he should memorise some as well as ensure he knew the pack history - after all, what use was a storyteller without being able to retell a story. But this was definitely a good start to his training.

Ilbert was a funny name, but worked well together with a big, pink wolf. Gave him a bit of a dignity. When it came to monkey being used to unlock a door Osprey fought hard not to burst out in laughter. Though she had no idea, what monkeys were, she had imagined them to be some sort of creatures with long tails. And now someone took them, shoved down the keyhole and unlocked a door. This was one of the reasons she loved this game - you never knew, where the story would take you.

"...there was a big, black, overwhelming... nothing," she whispered the last word to make this revelation more mysterious. "Ilbert was confused - of course - at first, but being a wolf, who never backed away from a challenge or things he feared took a deep breath and leaped right in the middle of the darkness. First he felt nothing and then..." she let Fitz continue from there.

FitzDutiful knew exactly where to take this next phase of the story and he jumped into it willingly. "then he felt a strange falling sensation. There was no scenery in sight to confirm that he was falling but the sensation was there all the same. Due to the lack of aforementioned sight, he couldn't tell how fast the falling was until suddenly the impact hit..."

A sense of doom was beginning to overshadow Ilbert now and Fitz wondered whether Osprey would take a shot at the chance to make the tale a bit darker or if she would revert back to the light fluffy happy story that had occurred. FitzDutiful knew he wouldn't have backed away from a broken leg or two at this point in the story, but was that something a storyteller should do or was there an unwritten rule about make it too realistic?

ooc: quote is by Chuang-tzu Chinese philosopher.

The reason, why there were many people, who didn't like stories, was because they described fake lives and events that had never happened. They couldn't see the lure of the amazing chance of adventure, of being, whoever you wanted, of an escape from reality, that was sometimes too hard and dull to live in. They stood firmly on their ground - all four paws rooted - and they were satisfied with what they had got. Yet Osprey had always believed that every story had a bit of truth, had a bit of life in it. She recalled a riddle she had heard from the nomads, which described perfectly of how she felt about the story-telling as whole. Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, flittering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly…suddenly I awoke… Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. How could you know for sure that you weren't part of a bigger story? Or that the story was the real life and yours was imagined. Complicated, when you got too deep in it.

"... an invisible wall - he went through it with such force that he caught fire. And now he wasn't the pink wolf Ilbert anymore, but a mighty, burning comet, that was dashing through the universe - past stars, planets and whatever else up there is. It felt a little strange to be so changed, yet Ilbert was happy about the fact that - even though his form had changed - he himself had remained the same. After a while he found out that he could change the direction of his flight at will and then..." Fitz wanted a twist of events - he got it. Now his task was to get the story to the next level. Her smile was a little challenging - she wanted to know, if the younger male would toss the story-line in a more complex direction.

Osprey took the conversation to a level that FitzDutiful hadn't expected. He had expected death, an end to Ilbert but instead Osprey had made it more than that. She had amde it an experience and suddenly FitzDutiful found himself wondering what exactly did happen after death. Did you suddenly vanish or was there something more? Maybe this was what stories were for, to keep you questioning - a bit like counselling.

"he realised that he had been trapped by fear. This was who he was supposed to be, this is what he was supposed to do. As he portrayed the scene around him he noticed the other comets also burning around him. Each in possession of their own will. Determined to make the most of this experience, Ilbert set his sight on..."

Once again, FitzDutiful had to suppress his urge to complete the story himself.

It was always exciting to be in the process of round-table story-telling, because you never knew, where the story would lead. They had begun with a fantastic tale of island in the clouds, inhabited by monkeys and pink wolves. Now - all it took was to step through a mysterious door and the story had changed entirely. Now it was about comets, about metaphors, about conquering one's fear.

Of course, it complicated the whole deal and before Osprey could reply to this, she had to take time to think longer and harder about it. At this point you couldn't return to the carefree story it had once been. No, the true challenge was to make it even better. When nothing exciting came to her mind, she decided to allow the story unfold, while being told. "... he set his eyes on a planet that was covered in a cloud of blueishy-purple mist. It was very beautiful and the closer he got, the stronger the pull was, until he found that the planet had captured hime by thousand invisible strings and was pulling him closer and closer to it's surface," she said.

"Ilbert tried to fight it, yet it was pointless to do so, because this force was far greater than himself. Therefore he closed his eyes (he still had them), took a deep breath and let himself fall. The first thing that happened, when he entered the mist, was that his fire died out. The lower he fell, the more colder it got and, when he hit the ground, he was ice cold and barely able to move. The planet appeared to consist of ice and snow. But it was not only that, when he finally opened his eyes, he caught sight of the most beautiful crystals in the world and nearby them there were..." her part of the story hadn't turned out as good as she had wanted it to be, therefore she left it up to Fitz, to mend and cure, what was possible.

FitzDutiful was in awe of Osprey's talent at story telling. This story was beginning to develop in such a lovely way, but Fitz was tiring greatly. This was all new to him and as suddenly as it came his inspiration was gone. He went over what Osprey had just said and thought and though, but nothing worthwhile was coming to mind.

With regret, he gave the story the only push he could. "Near the crystals was his family. Suddenly forgotten memories came to the forefront of his mind and he realised - this was home. This was where he was supposed to be. With great pleasure he joined them."

Fitz wondered if this would be the story's end or if Osprey would want to take it a step further.

Osprey's heart sank a little, when she realized that her companion had led the story to an end. She wasn't disappointed - no - simply there could never be enough story-telling for Osprey. If someone let her, she would go on and on and on, until she got tired and fell asleep. It had happened once, but she remembered clearly that she had continued to speak, while she was seeing dreams fluttering before her eyes.

"Very well done!" she praised Fitz with an encouraging smile and excited wag of her tail. "I congratulate you for making your very first story," she lifted her paw, reached over to briefly touch him on the shoulder - a sign of approval. "Did you like the game?" she asked him, when she withdrew.

Whoop! Lovely thread!

Osprey let the story end and it left Fitz feeling a bit sleepy. It was strange suddenly not coming up with ideas and thought and encounters. Osprey offered congratulations and FitzDuitful took them graciously, paying them back when he could in answer to her question. "Yes, I enjoyed them very much!" He exclaimed in joy. "I really must thank you. I didn't know stories could be learnt that way and I feel like my experience with storytelling has improved from winding this one with you."

A big grin took its seat on Fitz face as he quickly revisited the story that Ilbert had been on between them. It had been an adventure. A smart, winding, lovely adventure that he wished he had been able to continue. A quick look into the sky, however, reminded his stomach that he needed something to eat. "Do you want to go grab some food with me?" he asked.

Waiting for her response, FitzDutiful set off towards a food cache and thought about stories for the rest of the night.

Osprey's smile grew wider, when she heard Fitz's approval of the game. She already knew that it was perfect and her opinion wouldn't have changed, even if her companion would have thought otherwise.

"I won't say no," Osprey replied, getting to her feet. All this story-making had made her hungry and there was nothing better that she would have loved more now than to get her energy reserves replenished. Therefore she followed the young wolf to the nearest cache ready to eat and maybe hear more about him.

ooc: a great thread! Thank you a lot and I do hope that Oss and Fitz will meet each other for another story-telling session in the future.