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 Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:51 pm
Moss sat on a low tree branch with his hooves dangling. The sky was thickly clouded and the wind turned all of the leaves as it passed, exposing their lighter undersides. The satyr knew it was going to rain soon, but he was not worried. A little water never hurt anybody.
He was humming to himself, a slow, sweet song that asked the heart to ache for it. His voice was deep and resonant, and he wasn't afraid to admit that it was very good. After humming a few bars of the melody he put his flute to his lips and picked up the thread of the song. It was a common tune that he had heard somewhere. He had become a proficient flutist and his music lilted through the trees wherever he went.
After a long introduction he started singing, his eyes almost closed. The wind played with his hair and carried the song away with it.
The last notes of the verse faded away and he let the quiet ring for a moment, smiling slightly, before he took a breath and launched into the song again -- twice as fast and cheerful rather than sad. Moss liked his music made for dancing.
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Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 6:22 pm
 Zale padded along the forest floor, a rather large dead fish nestled in his arms. The clouds above him were becoming black cotton balls almost as fast as he could move. He smiled though and continued forward. Rain was a good thing, and perhaps on his of favorite things in the world.
When his paws picked up on a rather odd tune, he noticed a lighter bounce in his step and an extra beat in his heart. The young CatTaur felt like dancing right there, despite his mission. When the song faded away, he felt his soul cry, until, it picked back up with twice the rhythm.
Hunger forgotten, he picked up speed to find the being responsible for sure melodious songs and that's when he stumbled upon him. As he treaded past some brush, Zale saw a turqoise looking....thing in the trees with a stick that made music.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 2:02 pm
It was not long before Moss' legs decided that kicking idly in the air was no substitute for dancing. He launched himself from the branch and proceeded to dance along with the tune, his movement light as if he weighed no more than air.
Soon he realized that he had an audience, for a bright yellow taur was not easy to miss. He smiled around his flute. Moss was anything but shy.
He improvised wildly, still dancing, and when it seemed his fingers could move no faster he let out a whoop and stowed the instrument in his bag -- the same bag that his harpy friend Tuaria had given him, though he had lengthened the strap to fit him as he grew. Now he clapped his hands and sang a new song, an upbeat one this time, the kind with an infectious melody and a mostly nonsense lyric.
Taking great leaps he made a loop around the taur, just for fun. He saw that it was a child cattaur and he grinned to himself. He loved children. Perhaps this was because he was still rather childlike himself.
Finally he found a good place for the song to end, and after a flourishing bow he hopped up onto the tree branch again, swinging his hooves. "Hello there!" he called out with a wave.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 2:12 pm
The strange creature was so lively. Over here, over there; Zale didn't know where to look next! He smiled widely and tapped his paws around in the same pattern as the spring one, expect in a much slower and clumsier pace.
When all was done and he was back in the tree, Zale straightened his back with an authoritive air. He returned the wave, with a little grin attached to it. " 'Ello! "
For an adult, this man didn't seem to act like one. Most of the elders he had seen were kinda stuffy and didn't seem to laugh much. He liked this man.
" What was that thing? The stick you were blowin' on? " He couldn't help but ask. The device was just to strange to really ignore.
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 2:44 pm
He went into his bag and took out his flute, beckoning the cattaur closer. "It's a flute, of sorts," he said. "But mine is cool because it has two parts." He handed the forked flute over for the kid to look at. "I got it when I was only a little older than you and I taught myself how to play it. We satyrs are musical types." At the beginning, of course, he had annoyed everything on the isle with his attempts to make the instrument work. It was capable of the most dreadful shrieking noise. The thought of how far he had come made him even more cheerful and he hummed absently under his breath.
Now that he had gotten a good look at his audience, he saw the fish in the taur's arms. Moss had never dealt much with fish. He had met a syrin, of course, but that was different. He was curious -- was this fish to be eaten? He thought he remembered Tuaria telling him that her kind ate fish. He gestured at it and asked, "How come you're carrying a fish around in the woods?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 2:53 pm
A satyr? That's what this weird fuzzy man was? Oh well, a fitting name in a way. A strange name for a strange person.
Zale looked the 'flute' up and down, even going as far as to poke his finger into one of the holes. He'd seen a tree like this a while back. Been struck by lightning, apparently. Maybe that's what had happened to this...?
When asked, Zale had to think for a moment to actually remember what he was doing with the fish. His stomach growled and he remembered, blushing slightly. " I got hungry and since my brover i'nt here, or mama, I gots to eat by myself. Want some? "
He laid the flute ontop of the fish and held both out to the stranger.
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:26 pm
Moss accepted the items. He put his flute back into his bag and was left holding the fish, which he looked at curiously. It was very scaly and shiny and he wasn't sure what he would do with it. "Thank you," he said happily, turning it over and peering at it. "How do you go about eating it? I've never had a fish before. Does it taste good?"
With a slight frown he realized what the cattaur had said, and he wondered, "Why aren't your brother and mother here? Where are they?"
A gust of wind passed them, smelling wet. Moss sniffed it and smiled up at the sky. "Looks like it's going to rain soon. Where do you live? I'll walk you there, if you like." He hopped from the tree branch. "Don't want you to get caught in the rain. Unless you do want to get caught in the rain? I know I do."
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:34 pm
Zale laughed a little to himself. Did he truly not know what a fish tasted like? It seemed to far-fetched to him. " You hold both ends and just start eating, " He explained simply, feeling a bit arrogant now that he had something over the adult. " Uh.." The young one stumbled, unsure of what to say next. " I guess you can cook it. "
At the mention of his mother, he got a far away look on his face and some of his brightness died rather fast. " Mama's busy with her new babies, " His face darkened, " and papa. " He remembered the last 'conversation' he'd had with Kaelan, which fueled an emotion one so young should never know. " I dunno where my brover is, he's pr'ba'ly wif mama. "
The little CatTaur backed up a couple steps and stared up at the sky, an eager and impatient look on his face. " It'd better rain! I wa' play in it. "
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 12:44 pm
"Well, I'm not too hungry yet, so why don't you eat first?" He handed the fish back, curious about it but not wanting to deprive a child of a desired meal.
The darkness in the kid's face when he spoke of his family caused a crease of concern on Moss' brow. He didn't know much about the family dynamic of cattaurs, so he had no idea whether or not it was normal for a mother and father to neglect an older child in favor of new ones. It seemed unfair, but he didn't press the matter.
Talk of playing in the rain was much more to Moss' taste. "We should be feeling drops any time now." He, too, looked eagerly at the sky. The thick clouds were drifting in one stiff mass, and amidst the patterns of various gray shades the satyr saw something that amused him. He pointed at it and laughed. "Look, a bird flying upside down." It was merely a dark formation of the clouds. Moss was always seeing things in the clouds, and they were usually strange things. Then suddenly he glanced down at his arm. He held a hand up, palm flat, and watched for a few moments. Sure enough a p***k of water splashed on his skin. His face split into a grin. "It's raining!"
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:35 pm
He wanted to dance, truly he did but even now he couldn't for the life of him understand why he bolted that day. Maybe it was because he remembered where his family had gone off too....? Ah, yes, that was it. A strange white blur had made the young cattaur to drop his fish on the muddy earth and go barreling through the foliage, only to be disappointed by becoming lost and surrounded by white flowers.
Of course, over the years the guilt ate at his insides for leaving the satyr so soon after they had started to connect. Zale missed the elder greatly and thought of him everytime beautiful music was played.
His paws dug up fresh grass as a torrent of rain fell ontop of him. He'd been walking for days with no particular direction, just a memory of where they had last met. A low tune, remnant of a brighter song, was dying on the teen's lips as he climbed hill after hill. Zale could feel his strength slipping, the only thing holding him up was the dream of seeing that man again.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:49 pm
Moss had been startled by the kid just up and running away, and he'd called, "Hey, where are you going?" But before he could do anything else he had already lost sight of him, and soon enough the rain obliterated any chance he might have had at attempting to follow.
Puzzled, the satyr had shrugged to himself and picked up the fish. He looked at it for a while and let the rain wash the dirt off before he gingerly tasted the edge of it. It was strange and his first reaction was to pull a face and spit it out, but after a minute he tried again, and gradually he came to appreciate the taste and eat a small section of it. The taste and texture of the rain as it came down harder and harder mixed in with the fish and Moss liked it better that way.
Since then he had not had fish again, though he imagined that he smelled it when it rained. And he had continued as usual.
Autumn was coming now, and Moss was currently in the business of picking apples. He had managed to pull himself up into the tree because of its low branches and he sat with his hooves hooked around one. He had gathered a good amount in his bag, the same old one but strengthened significantly with woven vines, but when it started to rain he found that everything was too slippery -- the apples, his hands, the bark of the tree. Well this won't do, he decided, and he climbed down and settled himself comfortably against the trunk of a massive old evergreen, the thick boughs protecting him from everything but trickling drops, watching the sheets of water coming from the sky.
Moss could hear music in the rain. He squinted fondly and hummed along with it. He tapped his hooves together as accompaniment. And, inevitably, his hands found his flute and he played a duet with Mother Nature.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:32 pm
It seemed that every branch and briar wanted a piece of him as he finally found flat land. Zale leaned his lean body up against the side of a tree, desperately heaving in great gulps of air to calm his raging heart. The fall leaves made even the gentlest of paths slippery beyond all logical thought and the droplets of rain made even his keen eye sight fail.
At first, he only heard a ringing in his ears. Great, now I'm going insane as well. Then, it became a bit clearer and more melodious; like an instrument of some sort. The first signs of hope bubbled inside of his chest, spilling forth in great waves that gave him strength enough to move.
Zale's voice carried. His tenor sprang forth from this sea of hope, gradually getting louder and louder until finally he was all but shouting.
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:29 pm
Hearing a voice joining in from the deluge, Moss' eyes brightened and he smiled around the mouthpiece of the flute. As always, he loved audience participation. He played as loud as he could while still maintaining the integrity of the sound in hope that the other person could hear him. He stood, remaining stooped because of the low branches, and looked around the trunk of the tree. Where was this mystery singer, anyway?
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Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 9:35 pm
It had to be him, it just had to be. There was no mistaking the sound. As Zale emerged from the shrubbery, his voice began to soften as he tried to place where the sound was coming from. It seemed to surround him from all sides; encasing him in a box of song. Was the satyr playing with him? Or worse, was his mind?
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