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 Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 2:50 pm
 Macaw had been here a while. A long while. Long enough that he'd learned the language without mangling it too badly, long enough that he'd learned how not to attract attention (more than his strange looks garnished, at least), long enough that he'd started to walk around without his feathered headdress (though still wearing the armlet around his bicep). Long enough, even, that he'd started to appreciate some of the local food. It would never be food like at home, not by a long shot, but it could be something warm in the depths of their strange, icy winters. With that in mind, Macaw wrapped his paws around a hot mug of mocha at a coffee shop not far from the shop. The strangeness of the local inhabitants had not yet worn off, so he found himself sitting in a corner, staring at the patrons of the shop as they walked in, ordered their excessively fancy, personalized drinks, and sat down at tables to discuss their private lives at length and volume with friends and coworkers. It was a strange place, stranger for the gold-spotted leopard watching them all with scarlet eyes and wondering when he'd stepped into a world gone mad. Was this his fate, then? Forever alone in a strange, nonsensical place? He shook his head, curled his tail around himself more tightly, and sipped at his hot drink, appreciating the flavors he had, begrudgingly, fallen in love with since making this place his new home, and wishing love in another form would come his way.
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 3:46 pm
 Ah... it was was Lady's favorite time of day again! The time when she bounced into her favorite little coffee shop with her newest favorite book, ordered her favorite vanilla iced coffee with a touch of caramel, curled up in her favorite booth and alternated between diving into the depths of another world or secretly watching her own around her. What more could a girl ask for? So that's just what Lady Asta did. She trotted into the little shop, felling kinda shy as she always did when her hooves made clicks on the tile, and was at the counter ordering when something caught her eye... Now, Lady A knew pretty much all the coffee shop regulars, and even most of those who only came from time to time. She did no know the stunning black leopard with the tropical colored wings and eyes of rubies that seemed to be even more watching and curious than her own, who was sitting in her favorite spot. For a second, she could only stare... but Lady quickly snapped out of it as she knew how rude that was. Taking her coffee, she paused. Now what? Where would she sit? Occasionally her spot had been taken before, so she had simply sat the next one over. Seeing as how she had just been staring, however, Lady A was a little too intimidated to sit that close to the strange Noodle. Instead she made her way to the other corner, on the same side of the shop as her spot but by the window instead. Sipping her coffee, she cracked open her book and simply looked at it. Her mind refused to pay attention to the story, refused to even see the words. She was too enthralled by the stranger that no work of fiction could pull her away. Where did he come from? Was he new in town? Would he become a regular, or was he just passing through? Lady A knew none of this was her business, but she couldn't help but wonder... She found herself once more peeking at the male... Should she go say hi? Maybe ask what brought him to the shop? Figure out some things he was interested in and suggest other places he might enjoy? Lady wanted to talk to the stranger... but all she could do was smile when he caught her looking, and quickly shove her nose back in to her book with flushed cheeks.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 2:11 pm
Macaw's attention was drawn from his hot cocoa by the sound of something clicking rhythmically on the floor like footsteps. He looked up and tried not to stare at the female noodle who had just walked in. If she even was a noodle? She looked so bizarre, with her white mane and antlers and hooves, and her, well, her everything. But she had a collar, chopstick, and beads, and those were sure signs of a noodle, weren't they? Nothing more obviously noodle-like than that. Just another sign of the strangeness of this new world he'd inadvertently stepped over. I've crossed the river. No turning back now.
The female, it seemed, was just as fascinated by him as he was by her, and he felt disappointment that for as pretty as she was--and she was pretty. It was something he never would have admitted years ago, but having lived here for nearly three years, he could appreciate beauty even in non-panthers--he didn't feel even the slightest stirring of romantic interest. He'd always liked bold patterns on black or dark grey (it was something familiar when he was a cub, and now it was comforting in a way little else was), and she was elegant. He liked elegance. But nothing about her grabbed his heart. He forced himself to look back at his drink and sighed bitterly. He pulled the dratted wings--unkempt and untidy--against his shoulders and tried to stop himself from staring at her again. In the end, that attempt was fruitless. He found himself looking back up at her as she stared at him. It seemed that she wanted to sit where he was sitting, because she stared at the place he was sitting at, hesitated, then sat in the opposite corner. Now he couldn't stop staring at her, blinking when she smiled at him. What was that supposed to mean?!
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Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:44 pm
Lady mentally wiggled. Ooooooohhh! Ok! She couldn't just sit there any longer. Closing her book, she trotted to the counter, ordered a couple little pastries, and boldly brought them over to the male. Since she was a regular, and he was new, and both kept staring at the other, she figured it was decent enough to buy him a little sample of the cafe's nibbles and introduce herself.
"Hello! I must apologize for staring, I come here a lot and I've never seen you before..." She trailed off, a bit nervous despite her bubbly-ness. "Here! I uhm, I thought it would be maybe a good idea to buy you a treat, since I started out acting so rude~" She giggled and set the pastries in front of the panther.
Ok... now what? For a second she just kind of stood there, then she realized she might ought to introduce herself too. "I'm Lady Asta, by the way!"
Wow. Now Lady A mentally cringed. Note to self: TONE DOWN THE BUBBLY.
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Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 3:13 pm
And then the female walked back over to the counter, ordered some food, and joined him. Under his jet fur, Macaw felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment. Where had his courage gone? He'd never been an energetic pursuer of the fairer sex, but he'd been a hunter, a warrior. Why now was he so intimidated by a fair creature who obviously wanted to meet him? He knew. Of course he knew why he'd been so reluctant to talk to her, but he refused to admit it. Instead, he cursed his own cowardice, gave the stranger a smile, and made little motions to indicate that he would like her to join him. He swallowed his embarrassment, his trepidation, and watched her every movement.
"I'm new to this shop," he said quietly. It had been a long time since he'd had a conversation with another person. The sensation of having to figure out how to interact with another person for more than two sentences would be...exhausting, in all probability. He was a hermit these days. This was a good place, a nice place (the surrounding lands, not the coffee shop, though it was, itself, a very nice place as well), but he just couldn't bring himself to talk to the people. This would be his first conversation in...what, over a year? Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...this was going to end badly... No! Take courage, A'Kamri son, and face the challenge with teeth bared!
His smile widened. "I did not think you rude," he added. "In all equality, I was staring at you as much as you me. It is a pleasure to make your meeting, Lady Asta. I am..." Here he hesitated. He'd picked a new name for himself in this land...but was he comfortable yet using his assumed name? I'll have to be. "I am Macaw," he said very quietly.
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Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2013 3:54 pm
"Oh!" She giggled when he confessed to staring at her as well. Honestly she hadn't even thought about it! Her bright eyes watched the male, and she suddenly felt kind of like a big bad wolf. He seemed very shy of her, and here she had come just trotting over like she owned the place, probably ruining his peaceful day, shoved food under his nose and... Wait, did he make a motion for her to join him? Well, ok...
"Macaw! Such a... oh, whats the word... Beautiful isn't right, males don't usually like beautiful... Handsome isn't right either... Stunning? No. Nice? No. Unique? No that could be insulting... Oh..." Lady A's voice had been slowly fading as she ranted to herself, and finally, frustrated with her lack of words, she chirped with a smile, "Until I can figure out the perfect word, lets just say I really like it!" She nodded, then took a sip of her coffee.
"So, um..." She wiggled, painfully aware that if she kept chattering his ears might fall off, and tried to not let them fall into an awkward silence. "What brought you here, if you don't mind me asking?~"
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Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 9:31 pm
Macaw made a motion to invite her to join him. It was the polite thing to do, after all, and she seemed to be looking to sit down with him. And it would be...nice. To talk to someone else. To feel companionship, even for a brief time. So he would invite Lady Asta to sit with him.
As for his name? He'd never thought about macaws as being beautiful before. They were more...sacred, than anything else. He'd picked the name because he didn't want to attract attention with his old name. If people were hunting him down, they might be attracted by A'ka. "It's a translation from my given name," he murmured. "I like it. Asta sounds very graceful. What does it mean?" He couldn't tell what the names meant, and that bothered him around here. The local language was a mixture of many different ancient languages that no one seemed to speak anymore. No one came with a translation of their names. Some he understood--Malachite was self-evident, and so were Ash or Joy. But what did "Asta" mean, or "Mana" or "Pallas"? Too confusing. He sipped at his mocha and stilled his twitching tail.
"What brings me where?" he asked. "This building, or this area?" As soon as he said it, he questioned the wisdom of revealing he was an immigrant. And as soon as he questioned that, he tried to convince himself that it was alright, it was safe. After all, there were lots of immigrants around here. Lots of noodles weren't local to the area, why should he be afraid to mention that? No, he wanted to eliminate the ambiguity of that statement.
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Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 12:06 pm
"Oh!" Lady giggled as Macaw asked the meaning of her name. No one had asked her that before, and she suddenly felt a little shy telling someone. It felt almost bragging... but she didn't want to tell him she didn't know, if his own name was a translation then name meanings must be important to him. "It mean's 'bright as a star'~" She smiled, blushing a little.
When Macaw asked about location, her eyes lit up. Of course! She new he was new around, like she had first thought when she seen him! She found her eyes drifting over his shoulders to his bright wings, and smiled. "Well, specifically this shop I suppose, though I am curious to know about what brings you to the area itself I won't pry~" Lady giggled. "You look like you belong among royalty, not plain boring folk like us~" Mentally, she kicked herself for that comment. She sounded like someone both flirting and fishing for a compliment! Plain boring folk... What was she thinking?! In terms of activities and standings, it seemed fitting. She worked like everyone else, spent her off time buzzing about the mall or book stores or coffee shops like everyone else, she lived a normal, plain, boring life. But that's not the context the comment was in. She mentioned his looks, which was both a bluntly flirty move and it put her own looks against the description, rather than the comparison of lives that she meant. She knew she wasn't the prettiest, of course, but she never felt plain or boring. And now she'd just sounded like a little teenage bubble head. Good going, Asta. Good job.
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Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 11:55 pm
"Bright as a star..." he murmured. That was a very pretty name. Macaw had met quite a few panthers with names like that--not literally "bright as a star," of course, but names similar to it--ones that did not have simple, one-word translations into English. "I like your name, too, Lady Asta. It is very...beautiful. And, yes, stunning."Asta had a strange way of speaking, to Macaw, at least. She seemed to say a lot, then backtrack, as if afraid that her words would displease. On the contrary, it...wasn't bad. She was just so friendly that Macaw couldn't find any fault in what she was saying--besides the fact that he felt like he was making her nervous. He wasn't particularly happy about that. Making people nervous was not something he liked to do anymore. Not since he'd been a kit, anyway, and that was awfully immature behavior. But not what Lady Asta was doing, she was just stumbling. That wasn't immature, just a little...odd. That was all. "I entered the shop for some mocha." He lifted the cup, as if providing evidence. "It's very nice. I've only entered here once before, last night. I liked it, so I returned today."What Asta said next startled Macaw, though, and he couldn't hide the surprise from his face. "Royalty? He knew what the word meant, but it took him a few seconds to remember its meaning. It was hardly a word he used very often. Royalty--why did she think--? He wasn't wearing his crown, but he was wearing his armband but-- "Oh! I'm not royalty! I'm, um, I am common-folk. Just a person from the backwoods. A--hick? I think? Is the word? I." Am not royalty. I'm more important than they were. I am all that is left. It was beginning to crash down on him all over again. He belonged among his people, among his family. They were all gone. He was alone. Totally and completely alone. He stared into his mocha, fighting back tears. "I am as ordinary as everyone."He wiped his face. No. He was not going to break down in tears. He would be strong. He would not cry like a child, but face the future like a warrior. "You are very elegant. You seem to belong among royals yourself! And yet you are at a, a coffee shop?" He tried a smile--and a joke. "It seems we're both out of place, yes?"
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 4:48 pm
Lady A couldn't help but blush a little when he complimented her name... Stunning? That wasn't exactly a word she heard much. 'Odd' and 'hyper' and 'weird' were more what she was used to, but then when one was a bit too bubbly sometimes it was to be expected. She murmured an embarrassed "Thank you~" and was happy when the conversation turned to his drink and recent visit.
She smiled happily, and a little bit proudly, when Macaw complimented the coffee shop. Having been a regular for quite some time, she felt the place like a home-away-from-home if that made any sense... So when her favorite little hide-a-way charmed others and left them wanting to return, it made her quite happy~ Her smile turned to a laugh, though, when Macaw tried to call himself a 'hick'. Hick? Hardly! She'd met hicks, and most of them were missing a few teeth and rarely seen a shower. 'Hick' was certainly not the right word for this panther, backwoods or not! She was laughing with such delighted amusement she only barely caught his change of demeanor, the slight off tone of his voice declaring himself ordinary, and felt a very strong sense to pretend she didn't catch it at all. There was something deeply troubling this stranger, and Lady wasn't about to spoil his say by encouraging his woe.
"Elegant? Bah~" She was still giggling when he turned the attention on her, and she waved a hand as if to dismiss such thoughts. "I am but an ordinary Kirin, nothing special!~ But you are most certainly not a hick, dear Macaw~" Lady smiled, eyes sparkling. "Perhaps... We are out of place, though I really don't have a clue as to where else I would go! I've always wondered what it would be like to travel outside of here, but..." Lady shrugged and smiled, taking a drink of her own coffee and giggling. "I doubt I'd find coffee this good elsewhere~" She had lived in this little city all her life, and while she'd dreamed of venturing out, she was always too scared to actually go out into the world... Especially alone. For all her bubbly-ness, Lady hid a little bit of loneliness inside that she'd never admit to in a thousand years.
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Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 9:12 pm
Macaw listened to Lady Asta laugh. Her laugh was nice--a little bit surprised, a little bit high-pitched, but all in all, quite a nice laugh. It made him smile, and that alone was worth making her laugh. He wished he knew what he'd said that had made her laugh, though--he had not thought that calling himself a hick would be so amusing. Why should it be? He was rural, as a hick, and unfamiliar with the culture, and was not a hick a rural person unfamiliar with modern civilization? Perhaps there was a nuance he had missed there. He gave her a shy smile and ducked his head. He was grateful that she did not bring attention to his moment of weakness. It was very kind of her, and very sweet. "There are no kirin where I am from," he murmured. He stopped himself before he said anything more about his home. He did not want to talk about it, for many reasons. Instead, he tried to concentrate on the present. On the kirin, Lady Asta, who sat in front of him and laughed so nicely. "But you are elegant, yes--ordinary or not! Elegance is not the same as rarity, though rarity it may be." It was something his grandmother had said when he was a kit. He'd almost forgotten... He looked around the shop. "I would like to belong here," he said softly. "It is a very nice place. I am tired of traveling." He gave her another smile. "It is not what it is 'cracked up' to be. Too much uncertainty, and you never know what will happen so soon tonight when you are traveling. I would prefer to stay at home myself."
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