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 Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 10:51 pm
Well, he wasn’t at all worried about Laura’s skills in protecting Tali. No doubt, she would protect the gryphon from the fires of Hell itself. She was very… protective of animals, as Rem had learned at that disastrous gathering.
“It would be nice to know how to fix food for him. You never know if there will be another adult gryphon around who will be willing to feed him. And I wouldn’t mind taking an active part in raising him, since he is my gryphon…” it would kinda bother him in a way if Laura did all the work raising Tali.
Rem disappeared for a moment to go find the old basket. And a broom. And a mop. Just in case there were any accidents, which there surely would be at some point. He came back soon enough with an old basket clamped under one arm and clutching a broom and mop in his other. “The old pillow smells funny,” he complained. “I’ll get him a new one today. Until then, I guess he’ll have to make due with some clean blankets. I know I cleaned some recently…”
Again, he disappeared, presumably to search for these blankets.
With all the attention, Tali started to wake up again. Yawning adorably, he sniffed Laura’s hands before nibbling thoughtfully on one of her fingers.
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:00 pm
The woman chuckled in amusement when the little griffin woke up, momentarily ignoring Rem. she'd walked to the entrance of her room in Rem's absence, and opened the door with a foot to allow Tali to nibble if he wished.
"I know you want to look after him." She said quietly, not wanting to rouse Tali too much. "You're right, he is yours. But you'll have to learn a lot reletively quickly to take care of him alone. You're not scared of getting pooed on, are you?" She asked calmly, setting Tali carefully down on her bed and began going through her belongings before finding a large box that would make a nice nesting box for Tali. Closing her window, she set it on the sill so Tali would be able to get lots of sunlight.
"Why did you pick Taliesin for his name anyway?" She inquired curiously. "It seemed to scare Malcolm, whatever the reason..."
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:16 pm
Tali blinked as he was set down on the bed and he slowly started to explore, stumbling a little over the folds in the blankets.
“Scree?” he made a curious little question of a noise before sticking his head under one of the blankets. His tail wagged a little, like a happy dog as he burrowed under the blankets. Pretty soon, only his tail was visible from under the blanket. Aside from that, there was just a very suspicious lump under the cloth. A lump that let out soft ‘gryphon chuckles’ from time to time, a symbol that Tali was enjoying himself quite a bit.
Ah, what a thing to be young and easily amused…
“Hm?” Rem came back, holding some fresh blankets for the little gryphon. “It’s a Cambrian name,” he explained, setting the blankets down next to that very suspicious lump. He looked at it for a little while with an amused expression on his face. Damn, but Tali was adorable…
Very gently digging Tali out of the blankets, Rem sat on the bed with the gryphon on his lap. “I don’t know the song myself---you’d have to ask Mal to sing it for you---- but I know the general gist of it. Apparently, Taliesin was some Cambrian prophet from a long time ago. He made a number of disturbing prophecies concerning the fate of Cambria. Mal’s sensitive to it because a number of them came true. He puts no stock in prophecies and the like and the idea of something proving him wrong simply worries him. That’s what he says, anyway.”
Rem wasn’t sure how much he believed. Really, he would have to ask for that song one day, just so he could hear everything about it.
“Oh, and the name sounds nice. It suits him, don’t you think?”
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:26 pm
"See if he's ticklish." Laura said with a smile, though nodded at what he said. Placing the pillow in the box, she rested the blanket over top of it and took a seat beside Rem. "It's a cute name, though it doesn't suit the original owner." Giving a sheepish smile, she turned her attention to Tali. "Can you imagine that though? Mal singing? I think he'd need to have had a few drinks before doing something like that."
The woman fingered one of the soft, downy covered wings of the little griffin, smiling warmly. She knew Tali would enjoy being the center of attention, but he wouldn't be able to be carried about forever.
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Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 11:48 pm
Rem guiltily thought back to what Mal had told him earlier, about how the main reason for his drinking was simply so he could sleep without nightmares. “He drinks too much as it is,” he muttered to himself. “I can’t imagine you asking him, but I can imagine him singing. He’s got a nice voice, actually. He sang a few times in prison.”
A moment after saying that, he regretted it. Mal probably didn’t want his history to be thrown around so casually. He honestly seemed to be trying to forge a new life, and probably didn’t want his past to come haunting him. It would reflect badly on his newly gathered family, for one thing.
“Don’t tell him I told you that.”
He wiggled his fingers slightly, noticing Tali’s intent focus on them.
Something was moving! Tali crouched down against the blankets and sidled forward on his belly. It was a very strange thing to see a gryphon sidle forward; it was generally something that could only be done from side-to-side, but the chick managed it. He was being stealthy!
Unfortunately, his tail sort of ruined his ‘stealthy’ act since it was straight up in the air. Oh, and his butt was up in the air as well. Apparently, the chick believed in some sort of butt-theory that said he would be sneakier if he had it up in the air. His tail swished and he viciously ‘attacked’ Rem’s fingers.
Well, he drooled on them anyway. And sort of nibbled on them.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:21 am
Reaching out, Laura scratched the little griffin's rump with a chuckle. If the cats were any testimate, then the feline half of the griffin might react the same way- might as well label it 'elevator button'.
"Malcolm in prison doesn't surprise me." Laura said quietly, glancing up at Rem. "I expect he's seen more than one. But I won't make mention of it." She intently watched the little griffin, though did mull over what was said. "You were both on opposite sides, right? I take it he was a prisoner of war that wasn't executed?" It might be unsettling for some to see a lady, even one who was not of noble lineage, talking placidly about things like that. Then again, she knew the most pragmatic thing in the world: everything with life eventually dies. Her grandmother, her brother, some of her friends even; all of them brought her to that realization. From it, she learned not to fear the inevitable.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 12:18 pm
As Laura touched the gryphon’s rump, Tali let out a noise best described as ‘blurp?’. It was a questioning sort of noise, the kind that anyone would make if someone touched them unexpectedly. Well, if they were a gryphon, anyway… most humans probably would have immediately panicked, on the assumption that any unexpected touch was some sort of attack or flirtation.
Innocent little Tali, however, knew nothing of such things and simply thought it felt nice. And, as it turned out, gryphons did indeed have an elevator button. Or at least Tali did. He stopped mauling Rem’s hand and turned to sniff Laura’s instead.
“Basically, yes,” Rem admitted. “We didn’t execute prisoners of war; that was Cambria’s thing. We’re civilized.” Alright, so it was more complicated than that, Rem knew. There was also the whole thing about how Cambria couldn’t afford to have living prisoners of war. Still, he would ignore that----as did everyone else---for the sake of making Paralene look good. They weren’t instigators of war! Of course not! They were noble heroes, bringing civilization to the poor impoverished country of Cambria.
Yeah. Right. Rem had been there. He couldn’t ignore what he had seen. Maybe that was part of the reason why he was friends with Mal despite the fact that they had been enemies. Not to the point where Rem was a rebel sympathizer of course. Cambria was undoubtedly better off now. Just enough to make him understand what had gone on.
“Not to mention, by the time he and his platoon were caught the war had already been over for a few weeks. They had been… hm. Stranded, I guess you could say. Cambria had surrendered already, so he and his men were sort of left behind during the peace negotiations.”
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:02 pm
Laura wiggled a finger just out of Tali's reach, hoping the little griffin would try to chase after it.
"That's rather unfortunate." She murmured calmly, and stopped wiggling her finger for the griffin and folded her hands in her lap to look at Rem's face. "Though, I have to say, I'm surprised. I am just your maid, you don't mind talking about this sort of thing with me?"
Then again, Rem had told her that he wanted her to learn to read. She hadn't known anyone to take an interest in her like that. "You didn't even mind talking with me in front of Malcolm..."
It occured to her then without Leolin to look after- as she had look after him for years- Laura's mind wondered. With no big race to think of, no training regiment to plan, she was left to wonder more about what was going on around her. The wonder turned to questioning, and it made her realize just how different things had become since the chance meeting with Rem.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:27 pm
Tali let out a squeak of delight at the sight of the wriggling finger and he instantly attacked it, trying to fit it in his beak. It was all very adorable. As his plaything was taken away, his squeals of joy turned into squawks of dismay. Not willing to let his prey get away, he wandered into Laura’s lap, and pawed at her hands.
Rem reached over and picked up the squawking gryphon and placed him in the little basket that Laura had set up. Surely, it wasn’t good for a baby to be too active after just eating. Sure, it was cute, but he didn’t want to have to clean up gryphon vomit.
“I guess it’s simply because certain standards are more lax in Paralene. Servants aren’t supposed to be merely servants. They’re supposed to be friends. In my family, we’ve had the same servants for years, their families always serving us. It prevents them from betraying us, really. It’s easy to betray someone who always treats you like something that the dog dragged in. It’s a lot harder to betray someone who you grew up with. Heh. And Mal… well, you’re right in saying he’s not a noble. Not by his childhood, anyway. He was raised as a commoner, as I understand. He treats everyone the same way.”
He watched Tali for a moment. The little gryphon was sniffing the blankets and chewing on a few of them, as if hoping they would suddenly become edible at any moment. “Would you prefer it if I treated you like a maid, Laura?” Somehow, he doubted that. He had seen how the nobles out here treated their staff. It was disgraceful.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:35 pm
The woman scoffed softly, relaxing a bit at hearing him say such things. "You don't even treat me like a woman, and you ask if I want to be treated like a maid?" She shook her head, giving an almost inaudible sigh. "I'm sorry if I'm acting hard to please, I don't mind in the least really... Though most wouldn't talk to me as you do unless I was acting a part of another person."
Looking at the little griffin, Laura covered him with the blanket, stroking Tali's head. "After all... you're sitting on my bed without care I'm here as well. Noble or otherwise, wouldn't most be ashamed to?" The farthest thing from her mind was to drive Rem away. Laura simply wanted to point it out to him.
"To be myself around someone other than Leolin... it's frightening." She whispered, tending to the little griffin in hopes that stroking him would lull Tali to sleep. "So, I'm sorry if I ever offend because of it."
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:44 pm
Now poor Rem just looked confused. “Umm… you didn’t say anything about treating you like a woman. You just said that you’re my maid and I treat you strangely…” where had the whole ‘woman’ thing come from? Yes, he was fully aware of Laura’s female-ness. He simply didn’t feel that it really mattered. But, if she kept calling attention to it, he probably would start to think that it made a difference. After all, if it truly didn’t matter, why would she keep talking about it?
“What about your family? You mentioned a sister. Aren’t you yourself around them? Or are you Lucas to them as well?” It seemed a fair question to ask, mostly just because it would probably prove Laura wrong.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:05 pm
"Normally people think little of both their servants and women." Laura was caught off guard at mention of her sister, openly twitching. "My sister's a twit." She said frankly. "Why do you think I lived alone? I was never myself around anyone but my brother."
Sighing softly, Laura looked to her brother's sword she'd mounted on the wall. Quiet for a long moment, she didn't know quite what to say. Perhaps she was hopeful for Rem to say something, biting her lip out of nervousness. "What... what about you?" She asked at last. "You left your whole family behind. Why?"
Hoping it would take the weight off her shoulders, Laura hoped to learn more of Rem. Even if it was just a pretense to avoid talking about her own family in greater detail.
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:18 pm
“My family? I miss them a lot, you know. I really do. I have one older sister and two older brothers. As far as I know, my parents are still alive. They’re all in Paralene. My brothers will inherit the property when our parents die----or give up their titles---and my sister stands to inherit all the money. That’s how it works, you see. Male children inherit property while female children inherit the money. The dogs are actually gifts from my siblings. I imagine that my parents would be trying to set up a marriage for Abby around now.”
Hm. That reminded him. He would have to go back to Paralene for the wedding, once it was arranged. Ah well, it wasn’t that harsh of a journey, really. Not to mention, it wouldn’t be for a while. Abby was very insistent that she had to actually like the man she was set to marry. Her parents---Rem’s parents---indulged her, since she was the only female child in the family.
“I went back home after the war. I had hoped to settle down there. For a while, I did. I was a triumphant war hero; who wouldn’t want that in their family? I could have had everything I wanted.” Anyone as well; there were many families who wouldn’t have minded having a war-hero in their family… Rem decided not to mention this part. “But… well, it just didn’t work out. War changes people, Laura. All I heard was about how brave I was and noble and just, as if those who died hadn’t been all of that. There is no glory in leaving carnage in the fallen snow, Laura. Those who walk away… we don’t just leave behind corpses of our friends. We leave behind bits of ourselves as well.”
Standing up, he walked over to where Laura had hung up her brother’s sword and watched it intently. Truthfully, he was wondering if, perhaps, Laura’s brother was lucky to fall on a battlefield. In some ways, it was better than living afterwards. “It’s a different world out there. Once you go there, you can’t fit in with the normal world.”
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:42 pm
"Men shouldn't be forced to go to their deaths for the sake of so little." Laura said bitterly, though watched Rem as he looked to the sword. Standing, Laura joined him to look up at the sword, before turning to face Rem. "What was the point of the fighting in the end? What was gained from so much loss?"
It was something Laura simply could not understand; how could one change the world if they threw their life away? To be forgotten, trampled over by those who were friend and foe alike; their existance meaningless in the grand schemes of fighting. Before she could help it, a tear snaked it's way down her cheek, and Laura quickly turned her head to hide it. Wiping it away without a sound.
"I'd asked that sword the same questions over and over when it was returned home." Laura said quietly, solemly shaking her head. "I had no one to ask but that cold steel." Inwardly, she cursed herself for being emotional. Rem had actually been fighting, and he seemed calm about the whole thing. "Forgive me..." She said quietly, taking a deep breath and sighing to try and regain her composure. "I shouldn't be sad. Everything dies, eventually..."
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Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:19 pm
“Mal volunteered actually. And being in the military was my career. Neither of us were forced into the war. We chose this life. Cambria is slightly better off now. The murder rate is down, more people know how to read and write, and it’s more prosperous. It wasn’t completely useless…” well, from Paralene’s point of view. From Mal’s point of view, Cambria was worse off than before, which probably explained why he hadn’t wandered back to try to round up rebels or something. It seemed like the sort of thing he would do.
For a moment, Rem was too lost in his own thoughts to really notice Laura’s tear, which only made him feel worse when he actually did notice it. Once again, his expensive education hadn’t covered ‘how to comfort emotional women’. Feeling very awkward about it, he did the same thing he would do for any of his male friends who were crying, which was basically give Laura a big awkward ‘man-hug’, as Iris called them. This was that special one-armed sort of hug that most guys only reserved for other men.
For some strange reason, Rem imagined a little school house on a prairie with Laura running from it in tears. Where the Hell did that come from anyway?
“I’m sorry for bringing up bad memories,” he said, still feeling extremely awkward about the entire thing.
ooc| Why, yes, there IS a reference to Little House on the Prairie about Laura running from the schoolhouse in tears! :3 I couldn't resist.
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